"Just what we want," they heard him say; and looking in the quarter that had chained his attention they discovered some dark object half-hidden in the wisps of blowing mist.
"What is it, Ned; a fishing shanty, a stranded whale, or what?" demanded Teddy.
At that Jimmy laughed in scorn.
"You must think you're down on the Jamaica marshes near Brooklyn, where they do happen to have fishing shanties. Bet you now that's an old wreck!" he exclaimed.
"Just what it is," admitted Ned, as he led them along the shore. "Some whaler or sealer has gone ashore a while back. Perhaps she was crushed by the ice, and carried up on the land when the spring break-up came. But there's a chance we may be able to find some sort of shelter from this rain that's coming down on us."
"Hurry up, then," said Teddy, "and we may be able to save our jackets yet. I don't want to get soaked, unless I have to."
"I'd like to know who does?" asked Jimmy; "though for the matter of that, none of us are made of salt. And with a camp hatchet, I reckon now we'll be able to chop away enough wood aboard the wreck to have a decent fire going."
"If there's going to be any sort of storm, you don't think we'll be in danger of getting carried out to sea, do you, Ned?" questioned Teddy. "Not that I'd object to a cruise through this five-hundred-mile bay, the biggest thing of its kind in all the world; but I'd want to have something sound under me, and not a wreck of a boat, ready to sink any old time."
"Don't waste so much breath talking, but hurry!" advised Jack.
At that they put on an additional spurt, and drew closer to the wreck, which was half out of the water. Reaching the stern, part way up the beach, the boys found that a break allowed them an easy chance to climb aboard; and with hope beating high in their breasts, they hastened to clamber up the rough passage, glad of the opportunity to find possible shelter from the coming rain.