"But," said Dave, advancing toward the capstan, and remembering his promise to Squire Sylvester that he would be "particular," "we are adrift, man!"
"Oh, we can stop any time--just drop the anchor--and the next tide will drift us back where we were before."
"Y-e-s," said Dave, but reluctantly, "if we don't get in water too deep for our anchor. I like fun, Dick, but--"
"Oh, well," replied Dick angrily, "we will stop her now if you think we need to be so fussy.--Just let her go, Johnny."
Johnny, however, did not understand how to "let her go." It seemed to him and the others as if "she" were already going.
"Oh, well, I can show you, if you all are ignorant," said Dick confidently. "Just shove on this bar--help, won't you?--and then knock up that ratchet that keeps the capstan from slipping back--there!"
The weight of the anchor now drew on the capstan, and round it spun, creaking and groaning, liberating all the cable that had been wound upon it; but when every inch of cable had been paid out, what then?
"There! The anchor must be on bottom, and she holds!" shouted Dick in triumph.
"No--she--don't," replied Dab. "We are in deep water, and adrift."
"Can't be," asserted Dick. "All that cable paid out!"