While Jim and Tom were putting the finishing touches to the job I jumped ashore and busied myself looking for specimens among the shingles and small stones on the shore.
I always took advantage of every opportunity to get ashore, while Jim stuck to his boat like a barnacle and if he had been allowed his choice, he would never have set foot off from her.
"You can see where the boat's entire side has been scraped," I said, "she certainly looks like she has been through a battle."
"That's where the rock we bumped into took the hide off," admitted Jim, "but she's none the worse for wear," he continued. "'The Captain' will take us through many a worse scrape than this."
I could not blame Jim for his confidence and he had a right to his pride in her, for it was his skill that had made her a serviceable boat instead of the clumsy raft Tom or I would have planned and constructed.
His success showed us the value of patient, hard work in preparing for an expedition that was hazardous at the best and would have been criminally reckless, if we had not had some one with a good head like Jim's to guide us through. It wasn't boy's work.
CHAPTER XXIII
A CLOSE CALL
I had a nice time of it, looking for specimens. There is a fascination about the search for some rare or precious stone.