The Island School — page 214: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

J , c Bre ere iV y Bs me teeot nd ¢ i AN pag Pe at Ae? penn s ; Tyee a cu rsory ‘examination of the e 1 hold where the > stores would naturally be. 5 Hoisti ing up the hatches, they déceendaa the ladder ot _ they found fixed inside, but could only travel a short Po. The hold was filled with bales and boxes, evi- 4 dently the expected and soon-to-be-needed stores. “Stiff, said Brodie, “we've got to get this craft It is no use howling about our being far away I daresay, if we can ground her A 4 ? pa eh 2, ,. *. » Sane rth ef » _ ashore.” from our chums. _anywhere, Jim will find a means of getting the things : up to the castle.” a “But it eG me,” said Stiff, a that all these things ie were not for us.’ a «We can appropriate ther, any way,” grinned Ber rodic: - “ the ‘ Orsini’ is derelict—anybody’s property. ay ean them earns the blessing of all good seamen.’ i _ “Well, Iam with you,” said Stiff. “The job is like myname. What shall we do first ! ae “Took around for a bottle of Spanish wine and | have our dinner,” said Brodie; “the wines such as Spanish seamen drink are not remarkably heady.” 4 : eee ; | | CHAPTER XCVIL * "SAILING THE DERELICT. —sLoOw WORK WITH A GOOD : i ENDING. t ) RO DIE’ S advice was good, for both had now been some time at sea, with the usual result of a rising appetite. In the aft part of the “Orsini” they found the store- Dit broke it open and helped themselves | to all _ they wanted. In addition to the wine, they : selected a box of grapes, some olives and dried raisins _ —the latter for dessert—and squatting out on deck, i _ enjoyed themselves hugely. | _- They were monarchs of all they surveyed, as far as the sea wert, “for there were no vessels in sight, and ‘the “ Orsini ” by her position was hidden from the four distracted men Brodie had seen and Stiff ‘ heard hailing the boat from the shore. It was yet . comparatively early i in the day, and the cloudless sun Vas no ‘more than pleasantly warm. The gentle reeze was exhilarating. “T don’t envy those fellows in the castle,” said Stiff, h his mouth full of Braves “J think, Lal, that I ce L live here for ever.” ever covers. a considerable space of. time, am ae ¥ vie “ei NI 4 their finding the derelict 1 cat fi ~ a oan f He er ase a a pele aN Than a >» Bi o room, and by right of ai x 2 - nf, ay + tae Stay » ie; - eT era 1 oe! we 1 DE DE ELI a Ei, ee Me me “i an ia ne Stee rie - ir i said eee with a wise cae of the head, ‘ but r He ot ‘Derelicts are dangerous at sea, and he who removes - ue could do a month of it. ‘Orsini’ would be spotted by somebody, even if the original erew did not come in search of her.” 2h B and not very intoxicating.” all to ourselves !” ‘mast of the felucca sail was. fixed in the seat of aye waren pees ee to the fact by exclaiming: Only long before that the “T wonder they did not leave a portion of the crew aN ; on board.” ae “Well, there was a reason for their going, no doubt. ‘I reckoned they thought she wasn’t safe, and bunked _ it. Take another pull at the bottle. Itis palatable, Lal knew nothing of practical seamanship, but he | had read a number of books that gave him the theo- retical part of the life. And in: addition, he had “ie | picked up something from Jim in their ye tes to os meet the mail-boat. Bp He remembered having read about jury masts, and — 4 an indefinite idea of what they were hovered in his . mind. He thought thatif he could rig one up some=- oe where forward, that the “Orsini” would be assisted a towards the shore. eee The helm seemed to be in good order, which he a discovered by testing the working of the wheel, and that would be of some assistance. They | hoped with — good luck to strike the shore late that evening aris cs during the night. eet: “And fancy,” said Lal Brodie, “ our having ane pe ; 2 a Stiff chuckled. It was in his estimation a real | treat, and with his companion he set to work ‘ with a will to rig up a jury mast. ae “Why jury mast P’ asked Stiff, as they picked oul ye of the wreckage hanging to the vessel a top Sparc Will this thing do for it?” oe a “T don’t see anything better,” answered Brodie. ag “ As for why it is given the name of jury, I suppose it means a makeshift to be used until something better — can be got.” ae * Don’t see the application.” . es a 7 “No more do J, Fetch an axe and go to work — cutting away some of this rubbish hanging over ec i‘ side. It isn’t ornamental, and it certainly isn’t he % » thing but an impediment.” \ ee The spar they were in possession of was not more than twenty feet long, but if it could be fixeditmight be made serviceable. Lal thought of the way the i Bi: : cs a . es «o- ieee veh small boat, and it occurred to him that he had better’ — pa drill a hole through the deck and fix his mast in a — oe similar way. ‘ae While he was engaged 1 in this work, which he per-" 45 formed with an auger he found below among a lot of tools, Stiff, with an axe obtained from a similar A source, proceeded to cut away the tangled rigging. He laboured so hard that in about ten minutes he f nN was able to lean against the side of the vessel and “mh Sree oh