If Brown touched bottom steaming in, tug and barge would soon break up; but Lister was not going to be daunted.
"I'll go down and raise some extra steam," he said.

"You'll need full pressure to shove her through the surf." He was occupied for some time, but when a plume of steam blew from the escape-pipe he came up to the door and looked about.

_Terrier's_ languid roll was getting sharper; mast and funnel swung into a wide sweep.
Sometimes the dark hull lurched up high above the tug's stern, and sometimes sank in a hollow.

The rollers had angry white tops, and a belt of filmy vapor that looked luminous closed the view ahead.

Lister knew the vapor was phosphorescent spray, flung up by the turmoil on the bar, through which they must go.