"Don't jump unless you are sure you can reach her!" shouted Jake.
They were now scarcely a fathom from the trailing wreckage, and the schooner's rail was dipping lower. It seemed just possible to clutch it by a desperate leap, and the next moment Harry launched himself out into the air. Frank followed, struck the wet planking, and seizing a trailing rope held on by it with his legs in the sea. Then he dragged himself up clear of the water, and Harry, who was kneeling in the opening in the broken rail, reached down to him.
Frank clutched his hand, and in a few more seconds was almost astonished to find himself, breathless and dripping, safe upon the schooner's deck. A glance showed him the sloop abreast of her quarter and about a dozen yards away.
"Jake did that mighty smartly," Harry gasped. "I'll get to the wheel while you look around her."
CHAPTER XXVIII
A GRIM DISCOVERY
Frank had some difficulty in getting about the vessel. She was rolling wildly and loose ropes and blocks whipped blindly to and fro, but he noticed that the boat had gone, and the cleanly severed shrouds indicated that her mainmast had been cut loose after it had fallen over the side. It was evident that the crew had made some attempt to save the vessel before they abandoned her. The mainboom had disappeared, though the broken gaff and part of the sail were still attached to the hull by a mass of tangled gear. Scrambling forward he found the anchor lying still hooked to a tackle and half secured with its arms upon the rail, which suggested that the smugglers had sailed in haste and had been kept too busy afterward to make it fast. It was reassuring to discover that the anchor could be dropped without much trouble if this became necessary. Then he came upon a lantern hooked beneath the forecastle scuttle and went back to report to Harry. The latter, who was standing at the wheel, listened to him attentively.
"Well," he said at length, "I can't figure out the thing, and unless some of the dope men explain it I don't think we're likely to be much wiser. As Jake said, it looks as if they had jibed her by accident, which would probably rip out the mainmast, but, although it's easy to bring the mainboom over on a fore-and-aft rigged craft, it's mighty seldom that a capable sailor does it. Then, as there's water in her, they must have bumped her on a reef, though she could only have struck once or twice before she drove over it. That's as far as I can get, and the first thing is to find out what water there is below. It's fortunate you have a lantern."
Frank looked around. There was no doubt that the wind was falling, and the schooner, having only part of her forward canvas set, steered easily. The sloop, which had sheered off a little farther, was sailing abreast of her with lowered peak about a hundred yards away, rising and falling with the long combers which, however, broke less angrily.
"Jake will stand by for three or four hours," Harry explained. "After that he'll have to haul her up to make the inlet where we were to join Barclay, but it will be close on daylight by then."