Then he came out and let himself down the side of the ship, disappearing under the water to feel the bottom of the boat. The girls and Tom watched him anxiously.
"We must mend the boat somehow," said Tom. "It's our only chance!"
When Andy joined them on the slanting deck he looked very cheerful.
"Do you know, there's not much wrong!" he said. "I do believe I could patch her up fairly quickly. The waves have shifted her a bit so that I can get at the damaged part—the part where she struck the rocks and damaged a few planks."
"Oh, good, Andy!" cried the girls, and Tom slapped the fisher-boy on the shoulder for joy. How marvellous, that they could perhaps make the ship seaworthy again! What luck that the waves had shifted her enough to make it possible to examine the damaged part! Tom had no idea at all how Andy meant to patch op the ship, but he meant to help with all his might, to make up for losing the stolen boat.
Tom and Andy went back over the rocks to fetch a rope. Andy felt sure that if they all tugged at the boat at high tide, they could get her off the rocks and float her to the beach, where it would not be difficult to patch her up.
"You see, Tom, she's not jammed very tightly now," said Andy. "And I reckon if we wait tin the tide is at its very highest, and big waves are trying to lift the boat up, we could pull her right off the rocks! Then we'll get her into shore somehow, and see what we can do."
"If only we can do it all before the enemy come again," said Tom. "I wonder if they've discovered that I've gone!"
"Don't let's think about that," said Andy.
The boys found all the rope they had and wound it firmly round their waists. They went back to the shore. The girls were still on the ship, but the tide was rising high and they would soon have to leave, as the sea covered the boat at high tide.