The Wonder Island Boys: Exploring the Island

by Roger T. Finlay

Each was too busy to give much time for discussing the probabilities. They had entirely forgotten the cave. It was, by common consent, agreed that the boat must be taken home, and it was finally decided that the boys should pilot it around the point, past the cliffs, and in that way reach the mouth of the Cataract River, where it would always be convenient for cruising purposes.

It was fortunate that the sea was calm when the boys pushed the boat from the shore. It showed signs of leaking here and there, but the Professor assured them that the water would close up the joints before long. The Professor, himself, drove the team to the Cataract, and after unyoking them, followed the course of the river down to its mouth, to await the coming of the boys. He waited there until sundown, but the boys did not appear.

Let us now follow the boys. Lashed in the boat were two oars, as carefully secured as though tied only the day before. At the bow was the rope which the Professor discovered, after he had noticed the one tied around the oars. It will be remembered that the boat had been fitted with a mast and a sail. Those had been removed, as well as the crosspiece and the brace which held them in place. It was, therefore, necessary to row the boat around the point. The distance, as calculated by the Professor, was two miles or more to the cliffs, and fully a mile from the extreme point of the cliff to the mouth of the river.

Shortly after they started on the journey a light wind sprang up, which, however, did not seriously interfere with their progress, but it was sufficient to induce them to take a course outside of the point, instead of attempting to thread their way inshore between the rocks.

When abreast of the extreme point George's attention was directed toward an object on the cliff.

"What is that up on the rocks?"

Harry stopped rowing, and looked in the direction of George's extended arm. "It looks like a boat. Let us go in."

The boat was pointed to the shore, and drawn up, and in their eagerness, each tried to gain the elevation first. A miscalculation was made, in the attempt to reach the object, which was not visible from their location, and they were compelled to thread their way down again and go around the broken side of the cliff walls.

As they were about to ascend Harry called out: "Look at the boat, George! Run quick, it is adrift!" The wind had quickened, and they realized their carelessness in securing it at the landing place, and before George, who was lower down, could reach the water's edge, it was washed around the point of the rock, out of his reach.

Here was a dilemma. The boat lost, and no means to reach the mainland without swimming. The place where they landed was less than five hundred feet from the spot where they were cast ashore months before. Innumerable large rocks, detached from each other, formed the immense tier of sentinels for this part of the coast, and Harry's trip across, when he had the benefit of the life-preserver, was an entirely different thing from their present condition.