“Yes; he will be better undisturbed.”
“Then don’t you think, sir, as you and me’d better go on deck and overhaul things a bit; see how things are and look round?”
“Yes, certainly.”
“Then you lead on, sir, for there’s a deal I’m wanting to see.”
The door was softly closed upon the sleeping lad, and doctor and able seaman stepped into the saloon to try and make out how they stood.
Chapter Six.
The sun was sinking low as the doctor and his companion reached the deck and then ascended to the bridge to have a hasty glance round before the brief tropical evening should give place to darkness, and in that rapidly made observation they grasped that the great steamer, wonderfully uninjured, lay aground in comparatively shallow water, doubtless upon the coral rocks which formed the bottom of a broad lagoon.
Everything loose had been carried away by the waves which had swept the decks, but the masts and funnel were standing comparatively uninjured, and as far as they could make out, scarcely any injury had been done to the structure of the ship.