eep their course along the combing of the peninsula--if they
could. But their ability to do so had now become a question--each
instant growing more difficult to answer.

They were no longer certain that they were on the spit; but, whether or
not, they could find no shallower water by trying on either side. Each
way they went it seemed to deepen; and even if they stood still but for
a few moments, as they were compelled to do while hesitating as to their
course--the water rose perceptibly upon their limbs.

They were now well aware that they had two enemies to contend with--time
and direction. The loss of either one or the other might end in their
destruction. A wrong direction would lead them into deep water; a waste
of time would bring deep water around them. The old adage about time and
tide--which none of them could help having heard--might have been
ringing in their ears at that moment. It was appropriate to the
occasion.

They thought of it; and the thought filled them with apprehension. From
the observations they had made before sunset, they knew that the shore
could not be near--not nearer than three miles--perhaps four.

Even with free footing, the true direction, and a clear view of the
path, it might have been a question about time. They all knew enough of
the sea to be aware how rapidly the tide sets in--especially on some
foreign shores--and there was nothing to assure them that the seaboard
of the Saaera was not beset by the most treacherous of tides. On the
contrary, it was just this--a tidal current--that had forced their
vessel among the breakers, causing them to become what they now
were,--castaways!

They had reason to dread the tides of the Saaera's shore; and dread them
they did,--their fears at each moment becoming stronger as they felt the
dark waters rising higher and higher around them.

CHAPTER VI.

WADE OR SWIM?

For a time they floundered on,--the old sailor in the lead, the three
boys strung out in a line after him. Sometimes they departed from this
formation,--one or another trying towards the flank for shallower water.

Already it clasped them by the thighs; and just in proportion as it rose
upon their bodies, did their spirits become depressed. They knew that
they were following the crest of the sand-spit. They knew it by the
deepening of the sea on each side of them; but they had by this time
discovered another index to their direction. Old Bill had kept his
"weather-ey