In a few moments Captain Foster was lying stretched out on the raft, and the mate turned to Sidney and Raymond.
“If you young gentlemen,” he said, “will climb up here and chafe the captain’s hands, I’ll help the men and we’ll soon have the raft done. Take off his shoes, too, and rub his feet till they’re warm and dry. He must have been thrown against a timber when the ship plunged down, and was unconscious when he struck the water. So there’ll be no water in his lungs, and all you’ll have to do will be to get him warm. I wish we had some brandy to give him, but we haven’t even got water.”
“No,” said Sidney, who had climbed up and was kneeling by the captain’s side, “and Captain Foster didn’t have any breakfast this morning, and I think he was so worried last night that he didn’t eat much dinner, so he won’t be in good shape to get his strength back.”
“Did you young gentlemen have any breakfast?”
“No, we didn’t have any either. The explosion came just as we sat down to the table.”
“That’s bad; we men ate a good meal. Well, we may not be kept here long.”
When Mr. Wright and his men had bound together all of the lumber which had been collected, they had a commodious, serviceable raft. It consisted of a double tier of heavy timbers all through, and rode high in the water, even when it carried all seven of the party.
The boys had worked faithfully over Captain Foster, but he still had not recovered consciousness, though his body had become much warmer. The sky was clear, and a bright sun had done quite as much as the boys’ vigorous rubbing to bring about that condition. Mr. Wright examined the unconscious man more carefully than he had done at first, and was quite sure that the skull had not been injured by the blow which he had received.
“I don’t believe there is anything more we can do,” said the mate, “but I think he will come to himself before long. We’d better all take off our clothes and dry them in the sun. I ought to have taken off some of the captain’s clothes; he would have warmed up quicker; I believe I’ll do it now.”
He began to remove Captain Foster’s jacket, and as he stooped over him to release an arm the captain opened his eyes.