“There’s the sun,” announced Joe, after a pause. He pointed to where a faint light showed in the east. It gradually grew until the red ball of fire seemed to pop up from the ocean.
Jackie awoke, and sat up in Tom’s arms.
“Did daddy come yet?” he asked.
“Not yet,” replied our hero softly. “But he may—soon.”
“And he’ll be s’prised to see me here; won’t he?”
“Yes, Jackie.”
Tom looked at the craft on which he now was. As the sailors had surmised, it was a derelict lumber ship, and one end of it was well out of the water.
Tom was just wondering how they could improve their situation by making a sort of shelter and platform from some of the lumber when Joe cried out:
“Look! Look over there! It’s a boat, or part of one!”
They looked to where he pointed. There, drifting slowly toward them was a wrecked lifeboat, one of those that had been carried on the Silver Star.