"It was as I feared. They either struck some of these jagged rocks as they leaped from the boat or the under-tow was so strong that it dragged them down."
"Do you mean that all three have been drowned?" Neal cried.
"If they were alive we should see them by this time," and Jake ran along the shore hoping they might have succeeded in scrambling out at some other point.
Teddy and Neal followed him, and when five minutes passed there could be no further doubt.
"If they had waited until the boat struck, as we did, there would have been little trouble to get ashore; but now we shall never see them again."
The boys could hardly realize that three strong men had been taken from this world so quickly, and when finally the fact stood out boldly without the slightest possibility of mistake, a feeling of deepest depression took possession of all.
Teddy threw himself face downward on the sand and gave way to grief, while Neal and Jake stood by his side in silence, for this dreadful catastrophe seemed to be a warning of their own fate.