Whether anyone remained aboard was still a question when the cruiser was
a mile distant, but everything pointed against it. The craft, which
proved to be a small coasting schooner, had evidently seen a lot of
trouble. Both masts were broken off, the foremast close to the deck and
the mainmast some dozen feet above it. She lay low in the water, with
her decks piled high with lumber. A tangle of spars and ropes hung
astern, but save for her cargo the decks had been swept clean. She was a
sad sight even at that distance, and more than one aboard the
_Adventurer_ felt the pathos of her.
"No sign of life," said Steve. "If anyone was aboard there'd be a signal
flying. And the boats are all gone, too, although that wouldn't mean
much in itself because they might have been swept away. I guess, though,
it got a bit too strenuous and the crew remembered the 'Safety First'
slogan. There's nothing we can do, anyway."
He started to swing the cruiser about again, but Perry intervened.
"She's a whatyoucallit!" he exclaimed excitedly. "She's--"
"No, little one," Joe corrected gently, "she's a wreck."
"She's a derelict," persisted Perry eagerly, "and no one belongs to her!
If we got her she'd belong to us, Steve! Wouldn't she?"
"I suppose she would," replied Steve dubiously, his hand hesitating on
the wheel, "but finding her and getting her are two mighty different
things, Perry.
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