We were assembled in the cavern, with the exception of the boatswain, waiting for our breakfast, which Endicott was preparing, and were about to take our places at table, when we heard a call from outside.
The voice was Hurliguerly’s, and we hurried out. On seeing us, he cried,—
“Come—come quickly!”
He was standing on a rock at the foot of the hillock above the beach in which Halbrane Land ended beyond the point, and his right hand was stretched out towards the sea.
“What is it?” asked Captain Len Guy.
“A boat.”
“Is it the Halbrane’s boat coming back?”
“No, captain—it is not.”
Then we perceived a boat, not to be mistaken for that of our schooner in form or dimensions, drifting without oars or paddle, seemingly abandoned to the current.
We had but one idea in common—to seize at any cost upon this derelict craft, which would, perhaps, prove our salvation. But how were we to reach it? how were we to get it in to the point of Halbrane Land?