"
"God send it prove so!"
"That is clearly a sea breaking on a rock! It is awkwardly near, and to
leeward, and yet it is sweet to the ear as music."
The boat stood steadily on, making narrow escapes from jutting rocks, as
was evinced by the sounds, and once or twice by the sight even; but the
cries shifted gradually, and were soon quite astern. Paul knew that the
reef trended east soon after passing the inlet, and he felt the hope that
they were fast leaving its western extremity, or the part that ran the
farthest into the ocean; after effecting which, there would be more water
to leeward, his own course being nearly north, as he supposed.
The cries drew still farther aft, and more distant, and the sullen wash of
the surf was no longer so near as to seem fresh and tangible.
"Hand me the lead and line, that lie at the foot of the mast, it you
please," said Paul. "Our water seems sensibly to deepen, and the seas have
become more regular."
He hove a cast, and found six fathoms of water; a proof, he thought, that
they were quite clear of the reef.
"Now, dear Mr. Effingham, Miss Effingham, Mademoiselle," he cried
cheerfully, "now I believe we may indeed deem ourselves beyond the reach
of the Arabs, unless a gale force us again on their inhospitable shores.
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