le had also
caused the side lights to be slung to davits, and the white, red, and
green lamps made a triangle in the obscurity, though its base seemed to
be strangely near sea level. Even a big vessel like the Kansas shrinks
to small proportions when she is a mile or more distant at night. She
becomes indivisible, a mere atom in the immensity of the black waters;
it demands an effort of the imagination to credit her with wide decks,
streets of cabins, and cavernous holds. In one respect the exhibition
of the port and starboard lights served them most excellently. Guanaco
Hill was directly astern of the ship; they had absolutely no trouble in
maintaining a straight line for their destination, all that was
necessary being to keep the mast-head light in the exact center of the
green and red points.

Suarez, somewhat weak from his knock on the head over night, was not
equal to the strain of continued exertion, so Elsie and Gray took two
oars each, and allowed their companion to rest. When, judging by the
surrounding hills, they were half way across the inlet, Gray stooped
low in the boat, struck a match, and looked at his watch. It was long
after one o'clock! There could be no doubt whatever that the dawn
would find them far from the ship, no matter how fortunate they might
be in their further adventures.

It was well for Elsie that she had learnt how to scull when in her
teens, and that her muscles were in fair condition owing to her skill
at tennis. Even so, she feared that she could never hold out against
the sustained stress of that pull across the bay. The heavy boat,
intended to be rowed by six men, had the added burthen of four canoes.
It was back-breaking work; but she neither faltered nor sighed until
Suarez said:

"Let me take your place now, senorita. In ten minutes we shall be at
the mouth of the creek, though heaven only knows how we shall find it."

He did not exaggerate in thus expressing his fear. Time and again they
neared the shore, only to hear the tidal swell breaking heavily on the
rocks. The lights of the _Kansas_, fully three miles away, could only
tell them that they were in the neighborhood of the place where
Courtenay had last been seen in this identical boat. The least
divergence from the line given by the position of the ship meant a
difference of hundreds of yards at such a distance, and there was an
ominous lightening of the gloom, accompanied by a dimming of the stars,
when G