He whispered his belief, and it soon won credence, since the warship continued her scrutiny of the coast-line.
At last, after a wearying delay, she vanished.

Five minutes later, Watts and Olsen brought the welcome news that she was returning to the roadstead.
It was then half-past two o'clock, and the sun would rise soon after five.

Now or never the launch must make her effort.

Ready hands tore away her disguise, she was tilted by crowding in the poop nearly every man on board, the engines throbbed, and she was afloat.
At daybreak the thousand-foot peak of Fernando Noronha was a dark blur on the western horizon.

No sail or smudge of smoke broke the remainder of the far-flung circle.