Trolley was the first to make a discovery. Grasping the swaying mast with one hand, he leaned far out and pointed a shaking finger to an almost shapeless object just visible on the port beam.
A cry in a strange tongue—his own language—came from his lips, then he added, excitedly:
“Look! It ship or something. Look there, quick!”
“It is not a ship,” replied Clif, slowly. “It seems to be a capsized hull or something. Perhaps it is a dead whale.”
There was bitter disappointment in his voice.
“It no whale,” insisted the Jap. “It too big. I think it as you say, a turned over ship. Maybe——”
“I say, there’s something floating over there,” hastily interrupted Joy.
He indicated a spot some distance off the port quarter. It was merely a speck tossing about at the mercy of the waves.
Clif watched it long and earnestly, then he said, with more excitement than he had yet shown: