et us get comfortably on board."

"Never complain, Tim," observed Pat; "maybe we shall be glad that we
haven't left the boat; we have got a harbour under our lee, and plenty
of grub on shore, and that's what many a poor fellow has wished for, and
not been able to find."

Tom and Gerald were excessively anxious to get on board, and determined
to persevere as long as they possibly could. The men strained at their
oars with hearty good will. Now the boat mounted one sea, rapidly to
descend into the trough of another. Tom steered her carefully, keeping
her head to the seas. He full well knew that at any moment one of the
heavy tops of those seas falling on board might swamp her. Bird
frequently looked over his shoulder with an anxious glance.

"Beg pardon, Mr Rogers, but it won't do," he said at length; "the
keener we put about and run back into the harbour, the better chance we
shall have of living through this night; what has happened to the ship I
cannot tell. But, while it's blowing like this, dead on shore, we
shan't get on board to-night or to-morrow either."

Tom and Gerald at length saw that Jerry Bird was right. They could no
longer distinguish the _Dragon's_ lights. Either a thick mist had
arisen, or she had got too far off for them to be seen; indeed, the
shore itself, as the boat sank into the hollow of the sea, was
invisible.

"We must look out for a smooth, and pull the boat round, lads," cried
Tom.

"Arrah! shure, that will be a hard matter to find," said Tim Nolan, as
if to himself.

Watching for an opportunity, Tom, when in the trough of the sea, got the
boat round. "Give way, lads! give way!" he shouted out. Not that there
was any necessity for saying that; the men knew well enough that their
lives depended on their pulling as hard as they could. Any moment a
sea, rolling up astern, might break over them. Tom stood up to look out
for the entrance to the harbour, which he believed they must be
approaching, but he could see nothing but one unbroken line of foam
bursting over the reef. The land rose from the shores of the bay. On
the highest part Tom recollected having observed a large clump of tamana
trees, which, as they had pulled down the harbour, he had noted as a
good land-mark for entering. In daylight it could easily be seen, but
in the darkness he could scarcely hope to make it out against the sky,
while the boat tumbled and rolled about in the way she was now doing.
Still, it