"We think we've guessed it, and we're working on that line now; but it may take some little time, so don't get impatient," returned Frank.
If he felt any alarm himself, his manner did not indicate it; but then Frank had a faculty for disguising his feelings when it would add to the comfort of his chums.
So the old state of affairs continued, he and Jerry with their heads bent low over the machinery, and the others sitting there on deck, exchanging doleful words from time to time, and surveying that gray blanket that wrapped them in.
"How far do you think we've gone from shore?" asked Will finally.
"I was just trying to figure out from the way that water runs past. It's going faster than we are, you see. I should say we might have drifted several miles since the motor broke down," replied Bluff soberly.
"I wonder how deep it is here?"
"Say! what do you talk that way for? Think we'll have to swim for it?" exclaimed Bluff, in new alarm.
"Oh! I hope not. You see, I was thinking that if we could reach bottom it might be worth while to anchor here. That would save us from getting any further from the shore, at any rate," replied the other.
"Frank! Listen to what Will says!" called Bluff eagerly.
"What is that?" And Frank's head came into view.