The captain and the carpenter returned to the deck with anxious faces.
Curtis lost no time in assembling passengers and crew, and announcing to
them the facts of the case.

"My friends," he said, "I am here to tell you that the 'Chancellor' has
sustained far greater injuries than we suspected, and that her hull is
very seriously damaged. If we had been stranded anywhere else than on a
barren reef, that may at any time be overwhelmed by a tempestuous sea
I should not have hesitated to take the ship to pieces, and construct a
smaller vessel that might have carried us safely to land; but I dare not
run the risk of remaining here. We are now 800 miles from the coast of
Paramaribo, the nearest portion of Dutch Guiana, and in ten or twelve
days, if the weather should be favourable, I believe we could reach the
shore. What I now propose to do is to stop the leak by the best means we
can command, and make at once for the nearest port."

As no better plan seemed to suggest itself, Curtis's proposal was
unanimously accepted Dowlas and his assistants immediately set to work
to repair the charred frame-work of the ribs, and to stop the leak; they
took care thoroughly to caulk from the outside all the seams that were
above low water mark; lower than that they were unable to work, and
had to content themselves with such repairs as they could effect in the
interior. But after all the pains there is no doubt the "Chancellor" is
not fit for a long voyage, and would be condemned as unseaworthy at any
port at which we might put in.

To-day, the 20th, Curtis having done all that human power could do to
repair his ship, determined to put her to sea.

Ever since the "Chancellor" had been relieved of her cargo, and of the
water in her hold, she had been able to float in the little natural
basin into which she had been driven. The basin was enclosed on either
hand by rocks that remained uncovered even at high water, but was
sufficiently wide to allow the vessel to turn quite round at its
broadest part, and by means of hawsers fastened on the reef to be
brought with her bows towards the south; while, to prevent her being
carried back on to the reef, she has been anchored fore and aft.

To all appearance, then, it seemed as though it would be an easy matter
to put the "Chancellor" to sea; if the wind were favourable the sails
would be hoisted, if otherwise, she would have to be towed through the
narrow passage. All seemed simple. But unlooke