eached him, and touched him, there was no response.
Almost frantic, he cried to George: "Come here, quickly; something is
the matter!"

George was there in an instant, and caught up the Professor, while Harry
grasped the tiller, as it was released, and turned it to starboard. The
little boat responded, but Harry knew that if turned too far, the wind
might catch it on the beam and crush it to atoms.

The Professor had fainted, and when George finally revived him, he
looked about, and seeing Harry at the tiller, told him that he must turn
to the left to avoid the cliffs, and when he was advised of what had
bean done, he grasped Harry's hand, and commended him for the knowledge
and foresight which had been exhibited in that trying moment.

The cliffs were ahead and to the right. The crucial time must come
within the next half hour. The point must not only be cleared, but they
must pass it at a distance beyond the influence of the powerful swells
and waves, which are always present at points situated like this. The
storm was from the west, and the promontory pointed to the north. Under
the circumstances, the sea at the end of the land was a raging
maelstrom, and the counter influence of the raging waves, beyond the
point, offered as great a danger as at its extremity.

And now the leaks appeared at every side. Despair almost overtook Harry,
and he moved from one point to the next with the oakum and the caulking
tool. The Professor had insisted on again taking the helm. He had been
refreshed by the few moments' relaxation. Slowly he moved over to the
tiller. Would he ever make it? The boys stopped their work, fascinated
with the nerve-racking intensity of it. They knew the point had been
passed. The Professor smiled, and held up his hand as a signal, and the
boys rushed to him and actually cried, as he put his arms about them.

It must not be imagined that they were out of their peril now. Nearly a
foot of water was in the bottom. The storm was, in a measure, blanketed
by the cliffs, and there was now no alternative but to reach the shore.
It was fortunate that they were on the lee side of the land, but even
there the waves rolled up on the shore, and the Professor knew that any
landing which might be made would be hazardous in the extreme.

The vessel was approaching a shelving beach. Fortunately, from what
could be distinguished of its character, it was not a broken or rocky
shore.

"Boys, can you put up the mainsai