"Let us float it."
It was not much of a task to do this, and with a short rope it was hitched to the stern of No. 2. Angel remained in the recovered boat, and when No. 2 was pushed from the shore, and the sail set, its movement did not seem to perturb him in the least, but when the oscillations again began to be perceptible, he commenced to gurgle, and George knew they had a good sailor to take with them.
The sail took a little over three hours, and as they passed up the Cataract River, and approached their home, the boys set up a welcoming shriek, in imitation of incoming steamers, which so delighted Angel that he scampered in a delirium of joy from one end of the craft to the other. It is doubtful whether he had ever in his short life had such a glorious time, and that he remembered it his subsequent history furnishes the best evidence.
The Professor was just as much delighted as the boys at the sight of their first marine production, which had gotten away from them and stranded them on the cliffs three months before. "I am sorry now that you named the other boats, because this is really No. 1."
"Never mind; this is good enough to be No. 3. Just look at our navy!"
"Where did you find it?"
"Near the point, south of the bay."
"Then it must have been washed there during the late storms, because I do not think it is possible that it could have gone there at the time it escaped you, as the wind was blowing directly to the west at that time."
The boys now remembered the circumstance, and as they recalled the condition of the driftwood around it when they found it on the beach, it was plain that the storm had been their friend in this case.
"Have you been using oars on the boat?" was the Professor's inquiry, as he bent over the side and examined the notches which were made for the oars.