Again John tugged. The anchor refused to give way.
Nervous, John came aft and informed Stan of the situation.
“Try again, John,” Stan suggested. “Keep trying. We don’t want to lose that anchor. It ought to break out o.k. from a loam floor.”
Determined to get that anchor in, John heaved away, grunting, and—with a snap of release, the anchor broke ground! Up it came, and John hauled it wet and muddy on deck. As he did so he gave a low cry of surprise! But the sloop was heeling off now as the breeze filled the mainsail and John promptly “backed” the jib to help push the sloop onto a course and under way. In a minute or two the Water Witch was rippling to the opposite shore from the spot where the flashlight had glittered a short while before.
Close to the bank the anchor was again dropped overboard and the cable slacked off. With flapping sails, the sloop drifted off till the slack was taken up, then swung to the wind, at anchor. John said nothing about his discovery in the bows until the sails had been lowered and furled for the night, the strops tightened about the canvas, and the sheets belayed with plenty of slack in case of rain. The sky was clear and the stars glittered overhead, but a good seaman always leaves his running rigging slack at night, for rain would promptly tighten it and stretch the rope dangerously. All being snug now, the boys brought their bows and arrows up on deck, stowed them ready for instant use, placed a focusing flashlight handy, and held council in the cabin again. It was then that John Tallman went upon deck to return with something which he now handed to his friend.
“A brass fitting!” cried Stan, staring. “Where did you get it?”
“The anchor snagged on something in the cove, Stan, probably a sunken wreck, and I brought up this! Piece of brass trimming, isn’t it? Might be from a yacht?”
“It’s expensive, whatever it belongs to, John. Fancy trimmings at sea don’t appear on commercial ships. Yacht is the best guess! Wonder What a yacht is doing sunk in Black Cove?”
“Maybe that other thing we struck in the bay was part of a ship, Stan, too!”
“I doubt it, John. Probably just a half-submerged log. But this brass is definitely from a wreck, I figure.”