If it had been possible to overtake the thieves the prisoners could not have clambered out through the window more quickly, and on gaining the deck the uselessness of any further efforts was painfully apparent.
The Bonita was already out of the little harbor, bowing and courtesying on the ocean swell to the wind from the south which filled all her sails, and gliding through the water as if rejoicing at her escape from the shoal.
"Can't we row out to them?" Jim cried excitedly. "It wouldn't take long to launch the tug's yawl!"
"We couldn't catch 'em with anything slower than a steamer, now that they're well under way!" Bob cried angrily; and then, unfastening the hatch, he went into the cabin once more, as if unable to look longer at the rapidly retreating brig.
"It's no use, boys; we've got to make the best of what can't be cured!" Joe said with a great but vain effort to speak in a cheery tone. "We must try and forget what has happened or we shall be in no condition to help ourselves." Then, noting the tears in Walter's eyes, he added kindly: "Think of how much worse we might be situated. The Sea Bird isn't injured past mending, and in her we can make any port we choose."
"But you said it would be two or three weeks before she could be repaired," and Harry choked back a sob lest the evidences of his own grief should make Walter's sorrow greater.
"In that I may have been mistaken. Let's set to work as if nothing had happened, and think only about going home presently with no one on board of whom we are afraid. You boys get the yawl into the water, so we can land at any time, and I'll begin the job on the engine."
