It was close work, but it was safe enough so long as she hugged the rocks close, and not the mines.

Flitting by a low point abreast of the guard-ship, the dear old _Dexter_, which I knew well, some one on board of her sang out, "There goes a craft!" I threw up a light at once and heard the hail, "_Spray_, ahoy!" It was the voice of a friend, and I knew that a friend would not fire on the _Spray_.

I eased off the main-sheet now, and the _Spray_ swung off for the beacon-lights of the inner harbor.

At last she reached port in safety, and there at 1 a.m.on June 27, 1898, cast anchor, after the cruise of more than forty-six thousand miles round the world, during an absence of three years and two months, with two days over for coming up.
Was the crew well?
Was I not?
I had profited in many ways by the voyage.

I had even gained flesh, and actually weighed a pound more than when I sailed from Boston.