To Have & To Hold by Mary Johnson Chapter 24 Page 8

“A ship!” bawled the apparition, and vanished. The clamor increased; voices cried for captain and mate, and more pirates appeared at the door, swearing out the good news, come in search of Kirby, and giving no choice but to go with them at once.

“Until this interruption is over, sir,” I said sternly, bowing to him as I spoke. “No longer.”

“Be sure, sir, that to my impatience the time will go heavily,” he answered as sternly.

We reached the poop to find the fog that had lain about us thick and white suddenly lifted, and the hot sunshine streaming down upon a rough blue sea. To the larboard, a league away, lay a low, endless coast of sand, as dazzling white as the surf that broke upon it, and running back to a matted growth of vivid green.