A DARING DEED. ™ Now the engines were stopped altogether, and we drifted with the current. ISTot that I could see the boat drift, for I could not, the stars being all gone by this time. This drifting was the dismalest work; it held one's heart still. Presently I discovered a blacker gloora than that which surrounded us. It was the head of the island. We were closing right down upon it. We entered its deeper shadow, and so imminent seemed the peril that I was likely to suffocate; and I had the strong- est impulse to do something, any- thing, to save the vessel. But still Mr. Bixby stood by his wheel, si- lent, intent as a cat, and all the pi- lots stood shoulder to shoulder at his back. 6 She'll not make it!' some- body whispered. The water grew shoaler and shoal- er, by the leads- man's cries, till it was down to— * STAND BY, NOW I' 1 Eight-and-a-half! . . . . E-i-g-h-t feet 1 . . . . E-i-g-h-t feet I .... Seven-and------' Mr. Bixby said warningly through his speaking tube to the engineer— ' Stand by, now ! * ' Aye-aye, sir !' 6 Seven-and-a-half! Seven feet! $7#-and------'