23
　　The secret lagoon¹
　　For a long time the two boats sped across the sea. ‘It’s the Sea of Adventure!’ Lucy-Ann thought.
　　‘Anything might happen here. Oh, I do hope we find Bill. Things always seem right when he’swith us.’
　　‘You girls had better have a nap,’ said Jack² at last. ‘You’ll be tired out. Philip and I will keepawake and take turns at the wheel. You snuggle down and go to sleep.’
　　So they did, and it wasn’t long before both girls were asleep and dreaming of swings andhammocks, because of the swinging, swaying motion of the boat they were in.
　　After a good long time, Jack spoke³ to Philip. ‘Tufty – do you see the light flashing over there? Itmust be a signal of some sort, I should think. The boat in front is heading towards it. I hope we’resoon coming to our journey’s end, because the moon will be up soon, and we might be seen.’
　　‘That light must be a guide to the boat – or perhaps to an aeroplane,’ said Philip. ‘Blow, herecomes the moon! – out of that bank of clouds. Well, she’s not very bright, that’s one good thing.’
　　By the light of the moon the boys could see an island looming⁴ up in front of the boats. To theleft was another island, two or three miles away from the first, or so it seemed to the boys.
　　‘Look here, Jack – we don’t want to drive right into the jaws⁵ of danger,’ said Philip, ‘which iswhat we shall do if we follow the first boat right up to that island it’s heading for. I think it wouldbe better to go to that other one, over there, look – we could probably see enough in the moonlightto make out a cove⁶ to land in. We could pull this boat into safety between us.’
　　‘Right,’ said Jack, swinging the wheel round. Now they were no longer following the first boat.
　　It was soon out of sight, and was probably by now safely in some little harbour. Their own boatheaded for the further island. By the time they got there their eyes were used to the moonlight, andthey could see everything fairly clearly.

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