“You don’t want to touch ground and stop there with the B.F. goods on board,” Adam replied.

After this, there was silence except when Mayne gave an order.  White upheavals broke the passing swell on both sides of the ship.  She rolled with violent jerks and at regular intervals the bows swung up.  When they sank, a dark mass with a ragged top cut off the view from the pilot-house, and Kit knew it was a mangrove forest.  He could see no break in the wall of trees that grew out of the water, but they were not far off when there was a heavy jar, and the Rio Negro stopped.  The floor of the pilot-house slanted and Kit and the quartermaster fell against the wheel.  Then there was a roar as a white-topped roller came up astern and broke about the vessel’s rail in boiling foam.  She lifted, struck again, and went on with an awkward lurch.

“Port; hard over!” Mayne shouted hoarsely, and Kit helped the quartermaster to pull round the wheel.

The order disturbed him, since it looked as if Mayne was off his course.  The swell broke angrily ahead, but in one place, some distance to one side, the wall of forest looked less solid than the rest.  A roar came out of the mist and Kit knew it was the beat of surf on a hidden beach.  This told him where he was, because a sandy key protected the mouth of the lagoon; but he doubted if Mayne could get round the point.  The tide was carrying the vessel on and there was broken water all about.

She went on, with engines thumping steadily; the hollow in the forest opened up until it became a gap and Kit could not see trees behind it.  Mayne gave another sharp order, and Kit and the quartermaster pulled at the wheel.  The dark bows swung, the speed quickened, and the rolling stopped.  The throb of the screw and thump of engines echoed across misty woods and there was a curious gurgling noise that Kit thought was made by the tide rippling among the mangrove roots.  The air got damp and steamy and a sour smell filled the pilot-house.  Kit knew the odors of rotting leaves, spices, and warm mud.

In the meantime, he was kept occupied at the wheel for Mayne changed his course as the trees rolled past, until the telegraph rang and the engines stopped.  Then there was silence until he heard the splash of the anchor and the roar of running chain.  As the Rio Negro slowly swung round, the winches rattled and her boats were hoisted out.  Kit got into one with Adam and landed on a muddy beach.  Dark figures came down to meet them, horses were waiting at the edge of the forest, and a few minutes later they mounted and plunged into the gloom.

CHAPTER II

THE PRESIDIO