Page:Barbour--The mystery of the sea-lark.djvu/62

46 and made fast to the sloop. Tony sent the boys back to start hauling, while he stood by the Sea-Lark to "navigate" her. Jack and his chum each seized a crank and began to tighten the cable. It came easily enough until the drag of the sloop began. Then they managed a bare-half-turn only. Putting forth every ounce of their strength, they struggled to start the sloop on her journey toward the water, but it was beyond them. The Sea-Lark refused to glide with fairy footsteps down to the river after her long rest ashore. Tony meanwhile was heaving at the side of the boat to loosen her keel in the sand, but when he saw the joint efforts of the boys were unequal to the task, he beckoned them to fetch the dory across.

"She seems to be glued there," he declared, "but that glue will have to come unstuck, if it takes us the whole day to do the trick. Let's see if all three of us working at the winch can get her to start."

Tony rolled up his sleeves, put the boys together at one crank, and applied his own strength to the other.