Again
he nodded--then ducked his head in Wilbur's direction, and shouted
something that I couldn't quite follow. 'Change our tactics--we must
change our tactics--' was what I understood him to say.
"He beckoned me to come closer; grasping the cross-rail, I swung down
beside him.
"'I know our position,' he cried in my ear. 'Have no alarm, my friend.
There are two large islands, and a third, small like a button. Watch
closely the button, while I steer. When it touches the high headland,
give me the news instantly.'
"He had hauled the junk a trifle to port, and with every opportunity was
edging toward the land. The tall headland that I'd first sighted grew
plainer with every moment; soon I made out the island like a button and
saw it closing rapidly on the land behind.
"'Now!' I shouted to Lee Fu, when the two had touched.
"He swung the sampan a couple of points to starboard, discovering close
beneath our bows the tip of another reef that stretched toward the land
diagonally across the path of the wind. In a moment we were almost
abreast this point of reef; a hundred yards away, its spray lashed our
decks as the low-lying black rocks caught the broken wash of the storm.
Another swing of the great tiller, and we had hauled up in the lee of
the reef--in quiet water at last, but with the gale still screaming
overhead like a defeated demon.
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