“Sure,” said Hal. “Let’s go. Want to, Bee?”
Bee looked undecidedly at the excavations and then at his hand. Finally he nodded. “Yes, I guess so. When we get back I’ll have another spell with the shovel, I think. It’ll be cooler then.”
CHAPTER XII
The Sunken Wreck
The surface of the water was almost like a mirror as they chugged out of the river in the Corsair, Jack at the wheel and Hal industriously slopping oil over the engine. But once around the end of the island they began to meet cat’s-paws. Jack guided the launch in between the two black rocks which shoved their heads, draped with seaweed, a few feet above the surface. The anchor was dropped and the line payed out for nearly sixty feet before a hold was found. By that time the launch was just to the north of the channel between the two ledges. The surface was ripply, but Bee, who was given the first chance, reported that he could see quite a ways down. He lay sprawled out on the stern deck, with Jack and Hal holding his legs and his face a few inches above the water.
“See any timbers?” asked Jack.
“No, I don’t think so. I’m not sure. Now and then—Hi, yes, I do, fellows! There’s a long curving thing down there. I thought at first it was a rock, but it can’t be.”
“Get up and let someone else have a look,” said Hal.
“Just a minute,” replied Bee in a smothered voice. “There’s something further down—Gee, if the water would only keep still a minute!”