"That these fish aren't as fresh as they might be; so I'm going fishing before dinner."
"What in?" asked Jack.
"That's a fact," said Ned and Charley in a breath. "We haven't a boat now."
"No," said Jack. "We have no boat, and that's what I want to think about. How far is it to Bluffton, Ned?"
"About twelve miles."
"Is that the nearest point on the mainland?"
"Yes."
"Then we've got to stay here till we can build a boat with such tools and materials as we have, if we can do it at all," said Jack.
"We can't do it," said Ned, with a look of consternation on his face; "we lack nearly every thing. We haven't even the plank!"
"Now don't let's become demoralized," said Jack, who, ever since the accident of the day before, had been the leading spirit of the party. "We must keep our wits about us and lay our plans intelligently. But first of all we must look the facts in the face. We are on a deserted island twelve miles from the mainland, without a boat. We must stay here until we can make arrangements of some kind for getting away, and that will be a good deal longer than we thought of staying when we came, for I don't suppose you meant it, Ned, when you told Maum Sally that we'd be gone a month."