Page:Adrift in the Pacific, Sampson Low, 1889.djvu/176

 long pull, and a strong pull, was required to begin with to get the boat ashore.

Evans, who was as good a carpenter as he was a sailor, could appreciate Baxter's skill. There was no scarcity of materials or tools. With the remains of the schooner's hull, they could replace the broken ribs and gaping strakes, and old tow steeped in pine sap served to caulk every leak and make her thoroughly water-tight.

The boat, or sloop as we might as well call her, had a half-deck forward, which secured a shelter against the weather that was likely, however, to give little trouble in this second half of the summer. The passengers could stay on this deck or below it as they pleased. The top-mast of the schooner did for the main-mast, and Kate, under Evans's directions, managed to cut a lug main-sail out of the spare fore-sail, besides a lug mizzen and a good-sized fore-sail. Under this lug rig the boat would be well balanced and very weatherly. The work took thirty days, and was not over before the 8th of January. In the meantime, Christmas had been kept with a certain ceremony, as also had New Year's Day of 1862, the last the colonists hoped to see on Charman Island.

Donagan had now sufficiently recovered for him to be taken out of doors, although he was still very weak. The fresh air and more substantial food visibly improved him; and his comrades had no intention of going away before he was able to endure a voyage of some weeks without fear of a relapse.

The usual daily round had been resumed at French Den, although the lessons were rather neglected, for did not the youngsters consider they were entitled to a holiday ? And so Wilcox and Cross and Webb went out again on their sporting excursions over South Moors and through the thickets of Trap Woods. Now they scorned traps and snares, and in spite of the advice of Gordon, who was always careful of ammunition, they blazed away to their hearts' content, and Moko's larder