Finally, when Milly came up from the stern, he broached his plan to her.
“I don’t want to force you into this, Milly,” he said. “You shall have the deciding vote. Perhaps I am influenced by the hope that yonder vessel is the Silver Swan, and maybe this is a dreadfully foolish plan for us to try. I think, though, that it is the best and wisest thing we can do.”
“What can we use for a raft?” the girl asked slowly.
“One of the hatch covers. I have found a tool chest below—I can get at it yet—and there are spars and pieces of canvas for a sail in the same place. I saw them only this morning.”
“Can we launch a raft?” asked the practical Milly.
“I believe we can. It is growing calmer all the time, now, and the rail is so low at the stern that we can push a well balanced raft into the sea and load it afterward.”
“And Swivel?”
“I’m afraid,” said Brandon, looking down at the injured boy sadly, “that whatever we do cannot affect Swivel. We can make him as comfortable on the raft as elsewhere.”
“Then let us do it,” agreed Milly energetically. “I have been watching the other wreck and it seems to sail much better than the Success. The old brig may go down now at any time.”
And so they set to work at once at the task of building a raft.