The shortest passage is straight ahead, but we
generally go through a channel between two sands into the Wallet, which
lies between the sands and the Essex shore. There are not many ship-masters
who will come down the river below Sheerness at night, and even our master
would not try it with a falling tide; but even if one does touch when the
tide is rising, one soon gets off again. She won't roll about so much when
we get inside the sands; and besides, I heard the master say that he
thought the wind would fall lighter as the sun got up."
"I should like it to keep on just as it is," Ulf said. "I do not want it to
blow so hard that we must go into port, and I don't want it to blow so
light that we shall go slowly."
"What are you in such a hurry for?" the boy asked.
"There are some people my master knows who have gone up in a ship that
started yesterday morning, and my master wants to be there before them."
"You need not be afraid, he is sure to be there first. Like enough we have
passed them already. The wind was not so strong yesterday as it was in the
night, and I expect they had to anchor when the tide turned. If they have a
master who knows the sands well they may have gone on when the tide turned
again, but it was likely they would anchor before they got down to
Sheerness. If they did, we passed them three or four hours ago. But anyhow
you are sure to be in first. We often beat vessels that started with us, by
a week.
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