The question of food was the most disheartening and caused Bob no slight amount of anxiety. They had saved only such articles as chanced to be on deck. A round of pork which Jim brought from the fore-peak and left under the awning, quite by accident, when he was preparing for the voyage in the yawl; half a dozen pounds of ship's-biscuit from the cabin-locker; a sheet of corn-bread which, together with a jug of molasses, the workmen had taken from the galley to serve as lunch, and about a peck of potatoes, made up the total amount of provisions for five people until aid in some form should come.
There was barely enough for two days' consumption, and no one knew better than Bob how long a time might elapse before a vessel approached near enough to be signaled.
This was the one thought in his mind as he built a small fire and broiled a limited number of slices cut from the pork, while Joe was busily engaged stowing the last of their belongings under the canvas.
"It's a case of turtle-huntin' to-morrow, I reckon," he said grimly as the engineer, having arranged the goods to his satisfaction, threw himself on the grass near the fire. "It'll be mighty short rations for all hands unless we look sharp."
"There ought to be plenty of fish in the cove," Joe replied after a moment's thought. "I'll make something that'll serve as a hook, and the boys can spend their time on the raft. There are oysters here, most likely; and if the Bonita struck the shoal anywhere near, something eatable may have been washed ashore."
"I hadn't thought of that!" and Bob's face brightened as he spoke. "You an' I will take a trip around the key in the mornin', an' then perhaps things will look more cheerful. I reckon we're all tired enough to sleep to-night, but from the next sunrise somebody must be on watch for a sail every hour. It's the only chance we've got now of ever leavin' this blessed place."
"Then send Walter out on the point after breakfast. For the next few days standing watch will be the lightest work, an' he, being the smallest, should have the softest job."
"I guess that's about the way we'll fix things," Bob replied as he laid the last slice of smoked and blackened pork on a broad leaf. "Let's have supper an' turn in, so's to be on deck early in the mornin'."
It was not a very palatable meal to which the boys were summoned. A small piece of corn-bread, two ship's-biscuit, and one thick slice of the poor apology for meat was what Bob portioned out to each, and when the unsatisfactory repast was ended all save Joe crawled under the canvas on the two mattresses. He remained by the fire until a rude fish-hook had been fashioned from a stout piece of iron wire, when, joining the others, he also was soon wrapped in the blissful unconsciousness of sleep.
At a very early hour next morning Jim resumed his duties as cook, and the breakfast was even less appetizing than the supper.
Then Bob read the party a short lesson which he thought, and with good reason, they needed:
"Now, my hearties, work is what we all want, to keep us from thinkin' too much of the little steamer that has gone up in smoke, an' there must be a good bit of it unless we're willin' to go hungry. Don't worry about anything, but remember some kind of craft is bound to put in here before long; an' if the gold is frettin' you, why I'm bound to say there's no reason to look on it as lost."
This last remark caused no amount of surprise among his audience, and noting the good effect, he spoke more decidedly:
"The treasure was packed under the ballast, an' before the fire could get anywhere near it the hull must 'a' been full of water. Now, to pull it out ain't much more'n child's play; but it's our duty to lay in a fair stock of grub before tacklin' the job, an' we can work knowin' all hands are as rich as they were before the fire started."
This little speech did a wonderful amount of good. Despite their forlorn and perhaps dangerous position, every member of the party had bewailed the loss of the gold more than any other thing. But now that Bob spoke of recovering it in such a matter-of-fact tone, they suddenly regained all their lost courage, and were ready to begin the labors of the day.
Immediately after being awakened Joe had begun the tedious task of weaving a fishing-line from the strands of the heaving-rope, and by the time Bob concluded his inspiriting speech a cord thirty feet long was completed.
To attach the rudely-fashioned hook and a rock to serve as sinker required only a few moments, and then Jim and Harry had their portion of the work mapped out.
