That night passed away quietly enough, after a discussion as to future proceedings, when it had been decided to leave Sam Oakum to his own devices; for they were so solely dependent upon his success that it would have been folly to interfere.
“It was easy enough at Ramwich to talk about sweeping the sea till we found what we sought,” said Mr Parkley, dolefully; “but now we are here it seems as if we might hunt for our lifetimes without success.”
“And yet that scoundrel discovered the old wrecks,” said Dutch, firmly. “What one man has done another can do. For my part, now we are out upon the adventure, I mean to stop till we succeed.”
Mr Parkley patted him on the back, and looked up smilingly at him; and Dutch’s words seemed to impart spirit to all present.
Sam Oakum had insisted upon taking the first watch, declaring that he was not tired, and wanted to think; and the consequence was that the sun was well up before he put in an appearance on deck after his breakfast.
“Now, Oakum,” said Captain Studwick, rather impatiently, “what do you propose doing? Shall we up anchor and run along the coast a little way, and then anchor and have a fresh search?”
Sam did not reply, for he had his cake of tobacco in one hand and his knife in the other, and he was going to take a piece off for his morning refreshment. But knife and cake remained unemployed as his attention seemed fixed by something ashore. Then the cake was thrust back into one pocket, the knife closed with a snap and thrust back into the other, and he took a glance round.
The ship was now swinging in a different direction to that which it had occupied on the previous day, and this seemed to puzzle Sam for the moment. The tide was low, too, and that made a difference in the surroundings—rocks standing clear of the water that were invisible before, and there was a ravine opened out that was not visible on the previous day.
“She’s dragged her anchor a bit, hasn’t she?” said Sam, at last.
“No,” said the captain, “we were too close to those rocks, so I up with the anchor this morning, and let her drift a couple of hundred yards before dropping it again.”