"Pull up the stake, then," replied Sam.
Bill did his best to obey this order, but the fisher-boy had put the stake there to stay, and he could not move it an inch.
"Hurry up, there," whispered the chief, impatiently, "an' be careful how you rattle that chain. If that ar Bobby Jennings should hear us"——.
"Send more men ashore," interrupted Bill; "it's a little bigger job than I can do, all by myself."
The three boys who remained in the yawl were ordered out to Bill's assistance; but, for a long time, the post resisted their efforts, and remained firmly fixed in its bed. Finally, however, by pulling it first one way, and then another, and scraping away the sand, they succeeded in loosening it, so that, by one united effort, they lifted it out and placed it carefully in the skiff.
"All clear!" whispered Bill; and, in a moment more, Crusoe and his men, with their prize, had disappeared in the darkness.
CHAPTER X.
ANOTHER FAILURE.
