Elzevir had hold of my arm, and gripped it
hard as he looked to larboard. I followed his eyes, and where one horn of
the white crescent faded into the mist, caught a dark shadow in the air,
and knew it was high land looming behind. And then the murk and driving
rain lifted ever so little, and as it were only for that purpose; and we
saw a misty bluff slope down into the sea, like the long head of a
basking alligator poised upon the water, and stared into each other's
eyes, and cried together, 'The Snout!'
It had vanished almost before it was seen, and yet we knew there was no
mistake; it was the Snout that was there looming behind the moving rack,
and we were in Moonfleet Bay. Oh, what a rush of thought then came,
dazing me with its sweet bitterness, to think that after all these weary
years of prison and exile we had come back to Moonfleet! We were so near
to all we loved, so near--only a mile of broken water--and yet so far,
for death lay between, and we had come back to Moonfleet to die. There
was a change came over Elzevir's features when he saw the Snout; his face
had lost its sadness and wore a look of sober happiness. He put his mouth
close to my ear and said: 'There is some strange leading hand has brought
us home at last, and I had rather drown on Moonfleet Beach than live in
prison any more, and drown we must within an hour.
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