Terry stood up and looked around. “Alone at last, as the song says. Wonder if we are the only ones on board?”
“I think so,” Jim replied, looking rapidly around. “Is there any other boat aboard?”
A thorough search convinced them that there was no other boat on the wreck. They tried to get down into the hold to look around, but it was filled with water. The schooner would have sunk like a shot except that it had folded up on a rock and was held there. Jim noted that the rail was going deeper into the water with the passage of time.
“We’ll have to get off in some manner,” he told his companion. “I think the ship is slowly turning over, at least it is going to settle completely on its side. But as to how to get off is the problem.”
Terry peered off toward the shore, over the heaving water. “The blow has gone down considerably,” he said. “The shore isn’t far off, you can see it. Do you think you could make it by swimming?”
“I think I could,” replied Jim, after considering. “How about you?”
“I could if I had something to hang onto and get a breathing spell once in awhile,” Terry thought.
“Well, we can settle that. We can lash a couple of spars together and use them for resting stations. Goodness knows that there are enough spars around.”
They secured two large spars and roped them together firmly. Shedding all of their clothing except those absolutely necessary for use on shore they were about to leave the ship when Jim was struck with an idea.
“We can take along all of our clothes by tying them on the spars,” he said.