"By the deep four," shouted the leadsman.
"Carry on," said Captain Jeremy calmly, though by his manner I knew 'twould be hazardous to question him. "Another man in the chains!"
"A quarter less four." The water was shoaling rapidly.
Still our Captain gave no sign to alter the brig's course, although an ominous pale green patch ahead and several others of a dark brown hue on either side of us betokened the presence of dangerous sandbanks and rocks. His eyes were intently fixed on a rocky pinnacle which was slowly coming into line with a distant island.
Round swept the _Golden Hope_, heeling over to the beam wind as it caught her retrimmed sails. We were now shaping a course parallel to the eastern side of the island, while the _Neptune_, turning in our wake, had also succeeded in negotiating the unseen channel.
"Keep her as she goes, quartermaster," ordered Captain Jeremy, who was now devoting his attention to some secret bearings on the shore.
"By the mark thirteen," sang out the leadsman, while almost directly afterwards his companion gave the cry, "And a half six."
Once more the _Golden Hope_ swung round till she lay on her former course and was pointing straight for the island. Right ahead I could now see a deep bay, or rather gulf, protected by a ridge of jagged rocks running obliquely seaward from either horn of the land. Even here the rollers ran high, but they lacked the broken crest that elsewhere marked an almost continuous submerged reef.
Away aloft sprang the men to reduce still further our spread of canvas. With a succession of heavy lurches the _Golden Hope_ crossed the bar and entered the land-locked harbour.
"Let go," shouted Captain Jeremy, laying down his glass with a sigh of relief and wiping his heated brow.
With a sullen splash the anchor plunged beneath the waves, the stout hempen cable flew through the hawse-pipe, and the _Golden Hope_ brought up head to wind in the sheltered anchorage of Treasure Island.
The _Neptune_, smartly handled, also dropped anchor half a cable's length nearer inshore, and steps were immediately taken to moor both vessels, a massive chain bridle and swivel being bent on to the cables to prevent undue chafing, and also to facilitate matters should we be compelled to slip in a hurry.