Inch by inch the cruiser
dragged her keel along the sand, each minute floating a little freer and
each minute putting her deck more level as the stern found the deep
water. And, perhaps a half-hour from the time they had started, they had
the boat riding clear and slowly going astern to take up the cable. It
was out of the question to get the rope free of the rock and so they had
to cut it, and, having done so, they swung cautiously around in a wide
circle and headed toward the cheerful white beam of a lighthouse that
beckoned from the shore.
They had to keep the pump going, for a leak they had not suspected
developed forward, but that was a small matter and they were so glad to
get out of the adventure with nothing worse than a few sprung planks,
some bent stanchions and the loss of the side curtains that they would
willingly have pumped by hand. Half an hour later, after a slow and
careful passage from island to mainland, with the searchlight picking
out her path, the _Adventurer_ dropped anchor in a narrow harbour.
They stayed there only overnight, for in the morning they found that
there was no prospect of getting repairs made there, and so, with the
bilge pump sucking merrily, they ran ten miles further down the coast
and before dinner time saw the _Adventurer_ on a cradle and hauled high
and dry from the water.
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