“Tell them to hold on! Let them get the schooner ready for swift departure. Come, we must swim for it.”

Venner hesitated but a second. Then his hail went hurtling over the still haven, and the two seamen scrambled out of the boat again.

“Swim it is, Pearse,” he said, leading the way down to deep water. “Swim it is, and may the ever-cleansing sea wash out of us the last traces of insanity.”

Together they plunged into the blue sea and swam swiftly out to the schooner.