CHAPTER XXIX
DAYBREAK
JOAN took no lantern with her for fear that the Germans might still be lurking somewhere about the Shoal. She groped her way down the pier and felt for the boat's mooring-rope. In her haste she knocked down an oar, and was appalled by the echoing clatter. She rowed away steadily in the direction of the mainland, knowing that she could make better time by landing at any point along the shore and running up the beach than by trying to row directly to the Coast Guard Station. Before her lay impenetrable night, sky and water merged into one dark wall; astern, the light of Silver Shoal burned white and clear. Joan felt solitary, helpless, in the midst of the dark and unseen waters. That light, hung between sea and sky, meant for her at that moment hearth and home and security. She was leaving it, heading for a black, unfamiliar shore. But below that steady, watchful eye, growing ever
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