Chapter 5 EXPLORING THE ISLAND

The boys returned to the yacht in time for dinner, and here their situation was talked over by the doctor and the captain, the former assuring the boys that there was no great danger, for the yacht was equipped with a wireless service, and the captain could easily make his predicament known, and vessels would doubtless be sent to his relief.

"We may pursue our studies as usual," the doctor continued, whereupon there were wry looks upon the faces of many of the boys, "and as soon as we get away from here we will pursue our voyage. It is simply an incident, not an accident in our plans as arranged."

After dinner Jack got one of the yacht's boats, and took Dick and young Smith with him to the mouth of the bay to get a view of the reefs.

For some little distance they could not see the opening of the bay on account of its windings, the hills preventing them from getting a view of the sea, but at length in rounding a wooded point they came in sight of it.

There were reefs in front of them, at some little distance, and points of rocks on both sides, the outer bay being of considerable size, but generally exposed to the weather, which they were not in the inner bay.

They pushed on for some little distance, but not too near the reefs, where they would be exposed to the force of the surf that dashed over the latter and Jack presently pointed out a strange looking object on his right and at some little distance.

"I should say that that was a flagstaff sticking out of the rocks," he said, "if it were not the most unlikely thing in the world that there should be one there. If any one wanted to plant a flag-pole they would go up higher on the rocks, I should think."

"See if you can get a little nearer to it, Jack," said Dick. "It looks too big for a flagstaff, but it might be the stump of a mast."

"Which is much more likely," replied Jack. "A vessel might have gone ashore there, and show the stump of a mast above water. It is a wonder to me that we were not in the same predicament."

"The only way that I account for it is that we were hit by a tidal wave or the end of one, and carried right over the reefs without scratching, and then the force of the water carried us to the inner bay where it left us stranded for a time."

"That sounds reasonable, and in the absence of any other explanation may as well be received as the right one. I think you are correct about its being the stump of a mast, Dick."

Jack rowed as close to the point of rocks as he dared, not caring to be dashed upon them, the landing being bad, and the boys got a better view of the object that Jack had noticed.

It was out in the water, and projected about five feet, and, being broken off apparently about half way to the crosstrees, should be at least that distance under water.

"I should say there was five or six feet of water there," said Jack, "and you can see from the marks on it that this broken end is still below high water mark. I don't see any sign of a bowsprit but maybe that was broken off when she struck."

"And we can't tell whether this is the fore, main or mizzen," observed Dick; "or whether she had more than two masts. There must be some of her hull left, but it is all under water and maybe deeper than you think."

"Yes," said Jack musingly, "and I am very glad that we are above it and safe, even if we are on a lost island. The tide is coming in steadily now, and there will be more surf, so I think it just as well not to be too near the reefs."

"We might get ashore at some other point farther back, and examine this part of the coast," suggested Percival.

"That woody point which we rounded and so came in sight of the outer bay might be a good place," added young Smith, who seemed a boy of ideas, although he was a little fellow and younger than the others. "We could go ashore there, I think, Jack."

"Yes, so we might," said Jack, as he began to row back. "There is time now, I think. We have not got to go right back."

He pulled on till he reached the point of woods and then looked for a good place to land, finally finding one where there was a narrow white beach and a bank which sloped gradually up to a distance of twenty feet to a ledge whence there was another rise of about twenty feet to another grassy bank.

"This seems to be a good place," he said, as he pulled in to the little beach. "Here is an old stump to which we can tie the boat so that it may not drift away from us when the tide comes in if it reaches this point."

Making the boat fast with plenty of slack to the rope in case the tide should rise high, he got out and then he and Percival ascended the first slope, helping Jesse W. between them.

There was room enough for all of them on the bank, but it did not appear to extend very far, and after taking a rest of a few minutes they set out to ascend to the next landing place where they again rested.

Here there was more room than before, but it was farther to the next stopping place, and there was still more room when that would be reached.

From this point they could see much of the inner bay, and make out the yacht at anchor, but could not see much beyond that, and Jack suggested that they go to a still higher point, and get another observation.

There were trees, big and little, and rough rocks here and there, which would aid them in making the ascent, and they kept on till they reached another good stopping place of greater extent whence they could see much more than before.

Jack and Dick helped young Jesse W. up the bank, as, otherwise, it would have been hard for the little fellow, who was under the average size for boys of his age, and he felt quite proud of being with the older boys, and said as he looked around on the water and the island and the yacht lying at anchor:

"When I tell the other fellows that I came up here they won't believe me. I tell you, it is something to have two such big fellows to look after a little shrimp like me."

"Never mind, J.W., you will grow if you will only wait," laughed Jack. "We were all little fellows once."

"What sort of place is this, anyhow?" asked the smaller boy, looking about him. "There are woods and rocks, and down there I can see that stump of a mast. I wonder if we could see more of her by--"

He was walking on, looking at the mast sticking out of water more than at the ground at his feet when suddenly Jack noticed that he was right on the edge of a hole just discernible in the tall grass.

He darted forward, and caught the boy's arm just as he was about to step into this hole without seeing it, and pulled him back.

"Look out, Jesse W., or you'll go in!" he cried. "You don't know how deep that place is nor where it will land you."

"H'm! I never noticed it. It does seem deep, doesn't it? I wonder how far down it goes, and what's at the end? Water, do you suppose?"

"I don't know, I'm sure," said Jack, "but you might have had a bad fall, my boy. You don't want to go star-gazing like that in strange places. You never know what may be in the way. Always look where you are going."

"Yes, that's good advice, but I wonder if there is anything down there anyhow? Do you suppose we could get down?"

"Possibly," returned Jack thoughtfully, "but I imagine it is a pretty good job to get down there and a bigger one to get back, and nothing down there anyhow."

"You can't tell without going down," said the younger boy wisely, as he knelt on the edge of the hole, and looked down. "Have you got a pocket light with you? We might tell something with that."

Jack parted the tall grass, and just then the sun shone out brightly, as the breeze blew aside the branches, and a broad track of sunlight was let into the hole.

"It does not go straight down," said Dick, who was now at Jack's side. "In fact, I don't think it is as steep as the path we came up. We might go down and investigate."

"Yes, but what would there be there when we got down?" asked the other half impatiently. "We ran the risk of breaking a leg or an arm just for the sake of exploring a hole in the ground, and get nothing out of it. If there was anything there, now--"

"Yon don't know till you look, as Jesse W. just remarked, and there might be something there after all. Some of Captain Kidd's treasure, for instance."

"Nonsense! You are full of Captain Kidd's treasure, and so are half the boys. You won't find anything down there, and you will have your trouble for your pains."

"I'm going to look just for the fun of it, anyhow," said Dick, "although it would be very convenient to have a light as J.W. suggests. Another time we can bring one."

The sun shone more strongly into the hole, and Dick began to descend, using a stout stick, which he had broken from a tree near at hand, to assist him in going down.

The smaller boy looked rather wistfully into the hole as Dick went down, and Jack, breaking another stout stick, asked:

"Do you want to go down there, young fellow, and follow Dick Percival on a fool's errand?"

"It might not be that," said the other, "and I would like to go."

"All right, then, come along. Here is a staff for you. I can do without one, I think. Keep close to me. Can you walk upright, Dick?"

"Yes, generally," came back the answer in a muffled voice. "My! but the place is filled with echoes, Jack. It goes down quite a distance I should say. The light is a big help. Funny, but there seems to be a light down here, although where it comes from I can't say."

The boys kept going down and at length Jack said, pausing and trying to pierce the darkness, the light that Percival had spoken of not being visible at that moment:

"I think we would better get a light, Dick. We don't know where we are going, and it is dark. It is never safe to go anywhere in the dark unless one is familiar with his surroundings."

"That's true enough, Jack. Have you any matches? The next time we come this way, if we do, we had better take a flashlight along."

"I have matches," said Jack, and in a moment a tiny blaze shot up, increasing till it enabled them to see to some extent where they were.

They were still descending, but in a short time were on more level ground or rock, whatever it was, proceeding till the match went out, and a few steps farther when Dick suddenly brought up against something and exclaimed in surprise:

"Hello! we cannot go any farther, Jack. Strike another match, and let us see where we are."

Jack lighted two or three matches at once, and held them just above his head so as to obtain a good view of his surroundings.

"Hello! what is this?" exclaimed Percival. "A cave, or what?"

Just before them was a jagged opening into some region beyond, but whether it was a cave or not puzzled them.

Jack went closer, and held his light in the jagged opening.

"It's a hole in the side of a vessel, Dick!" he cried in amazement.

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