“Well, it’s that same that this place is; and we’re standin here now, so we are, as sure as you’re alive.”
“Shad Rocks!” cried Phil. “Shad Rocks!”
“Shad Rocks it is,” said Pat, “an no other place. An now I undherstan it all. Out there is the say,” said Pat, turning and facing where he supposed the sea to be. “Up there on the lift is Partridge Island, where ye hear the staim whistle, and back there’s the Carleton shore.”
This discovery cheered them both greatly; and the moment that Pat suggested this, everything confirmed it. The sounds of whistles in various directions could now be identified with various steamboats with which they were acquainted, while the lowing of cattle and the reports of guns in other directions showed where the land was.
They now looked forward with perfect calmness towards escaping. Before very long the tide had retreated far enough to leave the boat exposed. The first thing that they did was to turn her over and set her right. They then put inside her the oars, which had saved their lives in the falls, and which they had fortunately brought with them all the time of their drift on the bottom of the boat. This gave them the means of effecting their escape.
All that they now had to do was to wait till the boat could float again. As near as they could calculate, the tide would not be back again sufficiently to float the boat until eight o’clock in the evening. They had therefore nothing to do but to wait as patiently as possible. They were wet and hungry; but in that midsummer day, the wet did not make them at all cold, and in the course of time their clothes dried upon them; and as to hunger, they were too much overjoyed at their escape to make any allusions to such a trivial thing. They amused themselves by hunting after shrimps in the interstices of the rocks and in the water pools that lay about.
Thus the time passed, and at length the tide rose high enough to float the boat. Fortunately for them also, the fog lessened somewhat, and thus they were able to direct their course much more easily. Soon they were on the waters again, rowing along, assisted now by the rising tide, and thus finally succeeded in reaching their destination.
On arriving at the house, they learned about the search of Bart and his father. They had not yet got home. Servants were at once sent to tell them the news, and it was at the very lowest point of their despondency that the tidings came that the lost were found.