morning, anxious to learn where they were, and if they would stay at the
island or put to sea again.

Jack was the first of the boys on deck, and when he reached there he saw
Dr. Wise talking to the captain and the first officer, there being a
grizzled old seaman conversing with Bucephalus at a short distance.

The doctor and the officers seemed to be carrying on a very earnest
conversation, and Jack heard a little of it as he came forward, and then
suddenly stopped, fearing that he might be intruding.

"We are on the bottom, sir, and I don't know how long we may be there,"
said Captain Storms. "The next high tide may raise us, and it may not. It
is my opinion that we have been on the bottom ever since we came into the
bay, and how we are going to lighten her I don't know."

"But there are no holes, we have opened no seams, we have not taken in any
water?" asked the doctor, looking fixedly at the captain through his big
black-rimmed spectacles.

"No, there are no open seams and no water. The bottom is sandy, too, I
think, and not the sharp coral rock you find in these parts that will cut
a hole in anything that touches it. No, it is simply a case of too little
water to float us, but that, as I may say, may be remedied. Time will
tell."

"Then you do not think there is any cause for alarm, sir?"

"Not any great amount, no, sir. The moon is not quite full, although it
looked so last night, and when it fills we may get higher water. We can