Harborough was not a man to question the workings of Providence, and to moan and grouse because Nature had done her best to wreck his plans. Adversity only spurred him to greater efforts. Like a punching-ball, he rebounded promptly from the effects of what would have been to the toughest prize-fighter a knock-out blow.
Pete, too, rose to the occasion. Although the kitchen had shared the fate of the store-house, and the remains of the provisions took some finding, the hungry men were presently sitting down to a hot and appetising repast in which, greatly to Villiers' relief, cold pork did not figure. But there was a new item on the menu: turtle steak. Pete, wandering along the shore while the others were salving the remains of the cutter, had discovered a fine specimen of a turtle, capsized and lying far above high-water mark.
Breakfast had only just started when Claverhouse and his party returned.
"One's gone, sir," he reported, in answer to Harborough's inquiry concerning the sea-planes. "Turned completely over, and the motor's crashed through the fuselage. The other is all right. On our way back we found the motor-boat perched on top of a patch of undergrowth."
"Damaged?"
"Not as far as I could make out," replied Alec. "She is lying with her bows well up, and the after part is full of water."
The meal over, Harborough outlined a plan of action. Until the damage had been made good, as far as their resources permitted, further operations on the wreck were to be suspended. Another store-house, more solidly constructed, and erected on an enclosed clearing farther from the beach, was put in hand. Griffiths and Bell, assisted by Pete, were told off to examine the debris and set aside everything likely to be of value. The two Beverleys, Merridew, Vivian, and Fontayne were to launch the undamaged boats and to extricate the motor-boat from its unaccustomed berth.
"By the by, Claverhouse," said Harborough. "You will be tuning up our remaining Cormorant, I presume? If she's absolutely in running-order, I wish you'd make a trip across to Ni Telang and see how the Zug stood the gale. Provided she's still afloat, you needn't have any communication with our friend von Giespert. In fact, if you can contrive to escape observation so much the better. I don't want them to know we are anywhere in the vicinity."
"I understand, sir," replied Claverhouse. "If they're down and out, we'll give them a leg up; if they aren't, we'll simply let 'em carry on in their own sweet way."
"Precisely," agreed Harborough.