we shall be obliged to do so, whether we like it or
not," answered Pencroft, "for the sky looks very threatening towards
the west. Dirty weather is coming on!"

"At any rate we have a favourable wind for reaching Cape Mandible,"
observed the reporter.

"A very fine wind," replied the sailor; "but we must tack to enter the
gulf, and I should like to see my way clear in these unknown
quarters."

"Quarters which appear to be filled with rocks," added Herbert, "if we
judge by what we saw on the south coast of Shark Gulf."

"Pencroft," said Cyrus Harding, "do as you think best, we will leave
it to you."

"Don't make your mind uneasy, captain," replied the sailor, "I shall
not expose myself needlessly! I would rather a knife were run into my
ribs than a sharp rock into those of my _Bonadventure_!"

That which Pencroft called ribs was the part of his vessel under
water, and he valued it more than his own skin.

"What o'clock is it?" asked Pencroft.

"Ten o'clock," replied Gideon Spilett.

"And what distance is it to the Cape, captain?"

"About fifteen miles," replied the engineer.

"That's a matter of two hours and a half," said the sailor, "and we
shall be off the Cape between twelve and one o'clock. Unluckily, the
tide will be turning at that moment, and will be ebbing out of the
gulf. I am afraid that it will be very difficult to get in, having
both wind and tide against us."

"And the more so that it is a full moon to-day," remarked Herbert,
"and these April tides are very strong."

"Well, Pencroft," asked Cyrus Harding, "can you not anchor off the
Cape?"

"Anchor near land, with bad weather coming on!" exclaimed the sailor.
"What are you thinking of, captain? We should run aground to a
certainty!"

"What will you do then?"

"I shall try to keep in the offing until the flood, that is to say,
till about seven in the evening, and if there is still light enough I
will try to enter the gulf; if not, we must stand off and on during
the night, and we will enter to-morrow at sunrise."

"As I told you, Pencroft, we will leave it to you," answered Harding.

"Ah!" said Pencroft, "if there was only a light-house on the coast, it
would be much more convenient for sailors."

"Yes," replied Herbert, "and this time we shall have no obliging
engineer to light a fire to guide us into port!"

"Why, indeed, my dear Cyrus," said Spilett, "we have never thanked you
for it, but frankly, without that fire we should ne