“Well, I might be able to fetch up something. Maybe some stores—something to eat. Tinned stuff keeps a good while, even under water.”
“How long do you think this vessel has been wrecked?” asked Tom.
“No telling. A year maybe, longer perhaps. It’s in pretty good shape. I can’t see anything to tell her name by or anything like that.”
They all looked about them at the mystery of the sea. Whence had the vessel sailed, and to where? What had become of her captain and crew? They were questions that could not be answered.
“She’s a mystery, the same as what has become of the rest of the folks of the Silver Star,” remarked Abe. “I wonder if that lifeboat got away safely? Was the captain saved? Them things always comes to a man after he’s been saved.”
“Hush!” exclaimed Tom, nodding toward the child.
“That’s right,” agreed Abe. “We’ve got to keep it from him, poor little kid.”
But at present Jackie seemed happy enough, and he gave no thought to the possible loss of his father. He was content to be with Tom, and help to steer the derelict, which task he assigned himself with whoever was at the wheel. That is all but with Mr. Skeel, and, somehow or other, Jackie took a dislike to the stern man. Nor did the former Elmwood Hall instructor seem to care. He performed his duties in solemn silence.
All that afternoon they sailed on, eagerly watching for the sign of a sail, or the sight of some island. But nothing rewarded their gaze.