Then Bob read the party a short lesson which he thought, and with good reason, they needed:
"Now, my hearties, work is what we all want, to keep us from thinkin' too much of the little steamer that has gone up in smoke, an' there must be a good bit of it unless we're willin' to go hungry. Don't worry about anything, but remember some kind of craft is bound to put in here before long; an' if the gold is frettin' you, why I'm bound to say there's no reason to look on it as lost."
This last remark caused no amount of surprise among his audience, and noting the good effect, he spoke more decidedly:
"The treasure was packed under the ballast, an' before the fire could get anywhere near it the hull must 'a' been full of water. Now, to pull it out ain't much more'n child's play; but it's our duty to lay in a fair stock of grub before tacklin' the job, an' we can work knowin' all hands are as rich as they were before the fire started."
This little speech did a wonderful amount of good. Despite their forlorn and perhaps dangerous position, every member of the party had bewailed the loss of the gold more than any other thing. But now that Bob spoke of recovering it in such a matter-of-fact tone, they suddenly regained all their lost courage, and were ready to begin the labors of the day.
Immediately after being awakened Joe had begun the tedious task of weaving a fishing-line from the strands of the heaving-rope, and by the time Bob concluded his inspiriting speech a cord thirty feet long was completed.
To attach the rudely-fashioned hook and a rock to serve as sinker required only a few moments, and then Jim and Harry had their portion of the work mapped out.
"Use the pork as bait, an' when you've caught fish enough for dinner knock off. We've got nothin' to cure 'em with, an' there's no sense in takin' more'n we can eat at one time. Walter is to stand watch on the north point, an' you can join him when your job is finished."
Then the two men and the boy started off around the shore to the only place on the key from which a passing craft could be seen, and the young fisherman, with some pieces of half-burned planks as oars, sculled the raft out into deep water.
A brisk walk of half an hour was necessary before a sightly spot for the sentinel could be found; and Joe said, as he and Bob continued on around the beach to search for oysters: