My boat, unguided, had drifted considerably farther out into the Bay than I had supposed, and it required a good half hour of steady toil at the oars before I sighted ahead of me the darker outlines of the shore.  Nothing had crossed our path, and no unusual sound had reached my ears along the black water.  If the Namur’s boat had already returned to the bark, its passage must have been made during the period of my unconsciousness, and this seemed to me utterly impossible.  The course I had followed thus far took me directly across the water which they would be compelled to traverse, and they could not have passed unnoticed.  No, they were surely yet in the neighborhood of Travers’ plantation.  The men engaged in that night’s bloody business, would have been compelled to carry it out under many obstacles; they would be delayed by consternation at the discovery of their dead leader lying on the sand, and by their lack of knowledge regarding the interior of the house on the summit of the bluff.  Quite likely also this lack of a guide would result in an alarm, and consequent struggle, perhaps even in the serious injury of some among them before they secured possession of the money, and the girl.  In any case it must have resulted in delay.  Convinced of this, and confident that I was already well in advance of them, I drew in as closely as I dared to the dim outline of shore, and studied it carefully, in an endeavor to learn my exact position.

Although the sloop in its voyage up the Bay had never been out of sight of this coast, had indeed skirted it closely all the way, yet my memory of its more prominent landmarks was extremely vague.  I had made no effort to impress them on my mind.  Therefore at first I could identify nothing, but finally, out of the grotesque, shifting shadows, dimly appearing against the slightly lighter sky beyond, there suddenly arose, clearly defined, the gaunt limbs of a dead tree, bearing a faint resemblance to a gigantic cross.  I recalled that Sam had chanced to point this out to me on our upward voyage, and this glimpse obtained of it again now told me exactly where I had made shore.  This peculiar mark was at the extremity of the first headland lying north of the point itself, and consequently a straight course across the Bay, would land me within five hundred yards of where the Namur had last been seen at anchor.

To a degree my immediate plan of action had been definitely mapped out within my own mind while toiling at the oars.  At least I had arrived at certain conclusions.  The one immediate object before me was to attain the bark in advance of Estada.  I now was convinced that thus far I was safely ahead.  The night wind was light, and baffling, not greatly affecting my own progress, but of a nature to retard considerably the sail-boat, and compel a series of wide tacks, so as to enable those on board to round the point.  All this distance I could avoid by beaching my dory,