as doing. He stood quietly at the
wheel, scarcely moving it after he had once taken his course, but his
eyes were fixed intently ahead.

Nearer and nearer they rushed to the shore. Now they were almost upon
it. Harry steadied himself, and cast one quick glance at the captain.
Now the bow cut the thick foliage like a knife, but there was no shock,
and the _Mariella_, with trees and vines scraping her sides and rising
almost to her funnel-top, shot into a broad lagoon that lay completely
hidden by the dense foliage at the entrance.

As they passed in, Harry looked back. The passage through which they had
entered was scarcely wider than the steamer, and formed on either side
by two points of rock. It needed a bold and skillful hand to bring them
safely through that naturally-masked channel. The foliage dropped partly
back again but there still remained a gaping hole to show where the
steamer had pushed her way through.

Again the bells in the engine-room clanged, the screw churned the water
violently; there was a roar and rattle of the anchor chains, and within
twice her own length the _Mariella_ came to a standstill and her
dangerous voyage was safely terminated.

"Washington," called the captain, leaning out of the wheelhouse; "shut
the door."

"Aye, aye, sah," responded the negro, as he emerged from the galley.
"George Wash Jenks knows his duty."

Two of the men lowered a boat and jumped in. The negro followed with a
long boat hook. They rowed back to the entrance of the inlet, and Jenks
with his hook, deftly pulled the vines and creeping plants across it
again. In five minutes none could have told that the luxurious growth
had been disturbed.

The tropical night now began to settle rapidly over the still lagoon.
The business of making the steamer snug at her anchorage, which is
usually attended by the creaking of cordage, the clanking of chains, and
the discordant shouts of sailors and commanders, was carried on almost
in silence. The orders of the captain and mate were given in tones
scarcely louder than used in ordinary conversation, but the men
responded with alacrity. Within half an hour the _Mariella_, her
throbbing engines stilled, lay silently at anchor and not a sound broke
the stillness of the night. The shore of the main coast piled up in a
black mass, without shape or color, in front of them, while the
protecting arm that shielded them from the ocean loomed high above the
steamer's funnel, showing i