ring of the waves on the broad bluff
bows of the boat tended to throw it to leeward, a movement that, while
it retarded her forward progress, no doubt saved the little craft from
swamping. Again, the feebleness and shortness of her stroke, which never
impelled her through a rising wave, but rather lifted her half way up
its face, prevented the boat from taking much water, while her steadfast
gaze, fixed only on the slowly retreating shore, kept her steering free
from any fatal nervous vacillation, which the sight of the threatening
seas on her bow might have produced. Preserved through her very
weakness, ignorance, and simplicity of purpose, the dingey had all
the security of a drifting boat, yet retained a certain gentle but
persistent guidance. In this feminine fashion she made enough headway
to carry her abreast of the Point, where she met the reflux current
sweeping round it that carried her well along into the channel, now
sluggish with the turn of the tide. After half an hour's pulling, she
was delighted to find herself again in a reverse current, abreast of her
cottage, but steadily increasing her distance from it. She was, in fact,
on the extreme outer edge of a vast whirlpool formed by the force of the
gale on a curving lee shore, and was being carried to her destination in
a semicircle around that bay which she never could have crossed. She was
moving now in a line with the shore and the Fort, whose flagstaff, above
its green, square, and white quarters, she could see distinctly, and
whose lower water battery and landing seemed to stretch out from the
rocks scarcely a mile ahead. Protected by the shore from the fury of the
wind, and even of the sea, her progress was also steadily accelerated
by the velocity of the current, mingling with the ebbing tide. A sudden
fear seized her. She turned the boat's head towards the shore, but it
was swept quickly round again; she redoubled her exertions, tugging
frantically at her helpless oars. She only succeeded in getting the
boat into the trough of the sea, where, after a lurch that threatened to
capsize it, it providentially swung around on its short keel and began
to drift stern on. She was almost abreast of the battery now; she could
hear the fitful notes of a bugle that seemed blown and scattered above
her head; she even thought she could see some men in blue uniforms
moving along the little pier. She was passing it; another fruitless
effort to regain her ground, but s