The surf was no longer breaking on the bar outside.

There was a bright sea, with white-crested waves and, before starting, the captain ordered a reef to be put in the sails.
"She could carry full sail, well enough," he said to Harry, "but there is no occasion for haste; and it is always best to be on the safe side, especially when a middy is in command.

Besides, it is just as well to keep dry jackets." A keg of water and a supply of food, sufficient for two days, were placed on board.
"I expect you will be back by three o'clock in the afternoon, Mr.
Eden; but it is always well to provide against any accident." With the sheets hauled tight aft, the cutter was just able to lie her course, outside the line of breakers.

In a little over an hour there was a break in the shore, and a stream of some forty feet wide fell into the sea; and a general cheer broke from the sailors, who had been put on allowance for the past week.
"Put her about, coxswain," the midshipman said; "we need go no farther." "Can't we land, and have a bathe, sir ?" the coxswain asked.
"Certainly not.

That is the very thing that we mus'n't do.