but to have them on board for, perhaps, several days was a very different
thing. Besides, he was far from sure that they would understand the
necessity for keeping them, and in that case the situation might become
difficult. In the meanwhile, the sloop drove on, until at last, toward
morning, the beach fell back on either hand and she met the long swell
tumbling in from the Pacific. The wind was from the northwest and blowing
moderately hard; there was no light as yet in the sky above the black
heights to the east; and the onrushing swell grew higher and steeper,
breaking white here and there. The sloop plunged over it wildly, hurling
the spray aloft; and it cost Vane a determined effort to haul in his
sheets as the wind drew ahead. Shortly afterward, the beach faded
altogether on one hand, and the sea piled up madly into foaming ridges.
It seemed most improbable that the steamer would run in to land her
Indian passengers, but Vane drove the sloop on, with showers of stinging
brine beating into her wet canvas and whirling about him.

As the Pacific opened up, he found it necessary to watch the seas that
came charging down upon her. They were long and high, and most of them
were ridged with seething foam. With a quick pull on the tiller, he edged
her over them, and a cascade swept her forward as she plunged across
their crests. Though there were driving clouds above him, it was not very
dark and he could see for some distance. The long ranks of tumbling
combers did not look encouraging, and when the plunges grew sharper and
the brine began to splash across the coaming that protected the well he
wished that they had hauled down a second reef. He could not shorten sail
unassisted, however; nor could he leave the helm to summon Carroll, who
was evidently sleeping soundly in the forecastle, without rousing his
passengers, which he did not desire to do.

A little while later he noticed that a stream of smoke was pouring from