ell, I swan!" exclaimed Jed. "Aint you goin' to let me loose?"

"Not much. That would be a smart trick in us, wouldn't it, now?"

"I'll do some good hollering the minute you go away."

"All right. You will be discovered by your friends sometime durin' the
day, most likely; but all the yellin' you can do won't help you none.
The surf roars over the shoals loud enough to drown the report of a
cannon. Good-by, Jed!"

"I'll see you again," said the prisoner, who did not seem to be at all
concerned. "I'll help take you before the 'squire yet--I swan to man if
I won't."

"You'll ketch us first, I reckon. Come on, fellers."

The Crusoe men left the cabin and clambered into the yawl. The governor
grasped the tiller, and the others picked up the oars and stood ready to
push the boat from the bank. Tom made the skiff's painter fast to a ring
in the stern of the yawl, and seated himself beside the chief, who,
seeing that every thing was ready for the start, gave the command to
shove off; whereupon the Crusoe men thrust their oars against the bank,
and the yawl moved slowly toward the rocks at the entrance of the cove,
dragging the skiff after her.

As we have before remarked, the Crusoe men were now about to brave the
real dangers incident to their undertaking. One of them was close at
hand, and it was the only one Tom Newcombe dreaded to encounter. It was
the crossing of the shoals. He had made the passage once in the Mystery,
and it had tried his nerves severely; although the water was then
comparatively quiet. He knew that it would be worse this time, for the
wind, which had been steadily increasing since sunset, was blowing
briskly, and the roar of the waves, as they dashed over the ledge that
formed the shoals, could be plainly heard in the cove. "It is a capital
sailing wind," said Tom, with a great show of indifference. "Don't I
wish that yacht was in flames, and we were on board the Sweepstakes,
standing down the harbor under a full press of canvas? I tell you,
fellows--"

"Jerusalem!" ejaculated Will Atkins.

The yawl at that moment glided out from among the rocks that concealed
the entrance to the cove, and the Crusoe men found themselves on the
edge of the shoals. They stood appalled at the sight before them.
Through the darkness could be seen the white waves, rolling in broken,
angry masses across the ledge, and sending the spray high in air. At the
further end of the shoals, and about two hundred yards dista