away from the surf. Dully I
pulled, reasoning no more than that that was the thing for me to do.

It had seemed a mile, that short half-mile between the yacht and the
beach. It seemed a hundred miles now going back to the boat. I did not
dare ask myself how I could go aboard if even I won across so far as
the yacht. It was enough that I did not slip backward to the beach
once more. Yawing and jibbing in the wind which caught her stubby
freeboard, the little boat, none the less, held up under me, and once
she was bailed of the surf, rode fairly dry in spite of all, being far
more buoyant than either of the other craft. Once in the dark, I saw
something thrust up beside me and fancied it to be a stake, marking
the channel which pierced the key hereabout. This was confirmed in my
mind when, presently, as rain began to fall and the fog lessened for
the time, I saw the blurred yellow lighthouse eye answering the
wavering search-light of the _Belle Helene_, which swept from side to
side across the bay as she rolled heavily at her anchor. In spite of
the hard fight it had given me, I was glad the wind still held
inshore. I knew the point of the little island lay not far beyond the
light. Once adrift beyond that, not the _Belle Helene_ herself would
be safe, in this offshore wind, but must be carried out into the gulf
beyond.

Not reasoning much about this, however, and content with mere pulling,
I kept on until at length I saw the nodding lights of the _Belle
Helene_ lighting the gloom more definitely about me. Presently, I made
under her lee, so that the dingey was more manageable, and at last, I
edged up almost to her rail, planning how, perhaps, I might cast a
line and so make fast. But, first, I tried calling.

"Ahoy, there below, John!" I called through the dark. At first there
came no answer, and again I shouted. At this I saw the door of the
dining saloon pushed open, and John himself thrust out his hand.

"All litee," said he, merely greeting me casually. "You come?"

"Yes," said I, with equal sang-froid. "You makee quick jump now, John,
s'pose I come in."

"All litee," said he once more. I saw now that he stood there, a book
and a bundle in his arm. Perhaps he had been reading to pass the time!

Be that as it may, I cautiously pulled the dingey under the lee of the
_Belle Helene_. Timing his leap with a sagacity and agility combined
which I had not suspected of him, my China boy made a leap, stumbled,
righted