The center plank was turned up at one end.

This was the catamaran, which de Sylva had dignified by the name of boat.

The primitive craft rested in a black pool in which the stars trembled, though they were hardly visible as yet in the brighter sky.

The water murmured in response to the movement of the tide, but to the unaided eye there was no vestige of a passage through the volcanic barrier that reared itself on every hand.
"Were 'ave you bin ?" growled Coke.

"We've lost a good ten minnits.
You ought to 'ave known, Hozier, that it's darkest just after sunset." "We could not have started sooner, sir." "W'y not?
We were kep' waitin' up there, searchin' for you." "That was our best slice of luck to-day.