They did as Drinian said， and so continued to go slower nd slower. The whiteness did not get any less mysterious as hey approached it. If it was land it must be a very strange nd， for it seemed just as smooth as the water and on the ame level with it. When they got very close to it Drinian ut the helm hard over and turned the Dawn Treader south o that she was broadside on to the current and rowed a ttle way southward along the edge of the whiteness. In so oing they accidentally made the important discovery that he current was only about forty feet wide and the rest of he sea as still as a pond. This was good news for the crew，who had already begun to think that the return journey to Ramandu’s land， rowing against stream all the way， would be pretty poor sport. （It also explained why the shepherd girl had dropped so quickly astern. She was not in the current. If she had been she would have been moving east at the same speed as the ship.）And still no one could make out what the white stuff was. Then the boat was lowered and it put off to investigate. Those who remained on the Dawn Treader could see that the boat pushed right in amidst the whiteness. Then they could hear the voices of the party in the boat clear across the still water） talking in a shrill and surprised way. Then there was a pause while Rynelf in the bows of the boat took a sounding； and when， after that， the boat came rowing back there seemed to be plenty of the white stuff inside her. Everyone crowded to the side to hear the news.
