"I'll bring her around," he said; but Sam was leaning over the side of the boat to get a glimpse of his "eel."
"Humph! Canvas! Old sail! Bit of spar!" growled the Captain. "I'll cut Sam's squid loose. Sam, hand me that boat-hook."
It lay on the bottom, and hardly was it in the Captain's hand before the three-cornered Elephant began to lean over with his weight.
"'Twon't do," he said. "Fetch her starn around. This 'ere's a find. Boys, there's been a wreck somewhere. It's a jib-topsail. That's a spritsail-yard."
"He knows," said Pete; but Sam was in the dark as to how one piece of half-sunken canvas could be distinguished from another.
"Steady, Pete! Pull!" commanded the Captain. "I'll get a good look at it. It's worth towin' in; but we'll make this tide carry it as far as it will. Pretty good bit of duck."
Sam saw no kind of water-fowl, but in an instant more he remembered something, and said, "Cotton duck."
"English duck," said the Captain. "Pretty near new. And there's something down there hitched to the spar. We don't need any fish to-day, boys. I'll gear this fast to the boat, and then I'll gropple 'round."
He had spare rope enough in his three-cornered boat to make a hitch with, and the Elephant was quickly anchored to the all but sunken prize. While he was doing that, however, and while Pete worked the oars, Sam had not been idle. He had a very clear idea that whatever this might be, he had caught it. Of course it belonged to them all, like any other fish, but it had bitten upon his hook. Now that he had that back again, he was disposed for more catching, but not one of his motions had escaped the keen eyes of the Captain.
"That's it," he said to Sam, after making a fruitless sweep through the water with his boat-hook. "You can gropple, too, but put on a sinker, or it won't go down. Heaviest chunk of lead there is in my basket."