But by rowing hard at first and
then taking advantage of the quieter water near the schooner they at
last reached the old black hull in safety and, while Han managed the
boat-hook, the other two scrambled aboard.
As they had suspected, the hulk was utterly deserted, and the fact that
the forecastle and the captain's quarters were bare of anything of
value and that the davits were empty indicated that the vessel had been
abandoned in order. There was a good deal of water in her, but, as Steve
pointed out, she wouldn't sink in a dozen years with that load of lumber
to hold her up. "She wouldn't show much speed," he said when they had
completed their investigations and were once more on deck, "and she'll
tow about as easy as a lump of lead, but it's only thirty miles or so to
Portsmouth, and even if we make only two miles an hour, and I guess we
won't make much more, we can get her there tomorrow. That is, we can if
our cables hold and the weather doesn't get nasty. I don't much like the
looks of that same weather, though."
"Well, the barometer is rising," said Joe, "and that means--"
"Never mind your old barometer," laughed Steve. "Anyway, we'll have a go
at this. If we have to give it up, all right, but we'd be silly not to
try it.
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