“We’ll soon have a shelter rigged for you now, Alice,” said the harpooner, as the young girl, who had been watching the operations of her lover with much interest, glided to his side.
She looked up gratefully into his face as he spoke, and placed her hand upon his arm.
“How will you do it?” she inquired, “with that broken boat and those line-tubs?”
“You shall see,” replied Marline, and drawing his sheath knife, he commenced to cut the pieces of rope-yarn that held the sail to the mast.
It had previously been unrolled by Stump, and as the last rope-yarn was severed, the shipkeeper twisted the cloth into as small a compass as possible. Both men then seized it and began to wring it out, for it had become thoroughly soaked, and required a “little drying” before it could be used for the purposes in view. The manner in which the two seamen handled the cloth as they squeezed it, seemed droll enough to Alice, and more than once, as Harry glanced toward her, he saw a sly smile hovering about the corners of her mouth. The task, however, was soon accomplished, and, spreading out the sail, the harpooner then proceeded to cover it with a coat of tar, so that the rain might not penetrate the cloth; while Stump, in accordance with the directions of the young man, lashed one of the line-tubs—turned upon its side—to the after part of the boat, and the other in like manner to the forward part. An oar was then placed lengthways above the vessel, with each of its ends resting upon one of the tubs, to which it was securely fastened in a short time by the skillful fingers of the harpooner and his companion.
The tarred sail was then thrown across the oar and secured to the broken gunwales, in such a manner as to form quite a respectable roof, and which could be opened at any moment on one side. So much having been done, the young man seized the hatchet, and knocking away all the thwarts, with the exception of one, gave them to Stump, directing him to stop up the holes in the sides of the vessel with them, as well as he could. While the shipkeeper was engaged in this duty, Marline examined the inside bottom of the boat, and was glad to perceive that the planks which covered it were still in good condition.
He wiped them with a piece of canvas, until they were as dry as he could make them in this manner; and then, with the roll of sail-cloth that had been found among the other contents of the vessel, he assisted Stump in his efforts to stop up some of the many crevices and holes in the broken bows and sides of the boat.
“There, Alice!” he cried, springing out upon the ice, as soon as this duty was finished, “you can now go into your ark, which will at least keep you from getting wet.”
“It is very nice,” said the young girl, “but is there room for us all?”
“Oh yes, in case we should care to go in. But Jack and I prefer to stay outside for the present, so as to watch for Briggs and his party, or for any of the boats.”