his
wages to his mother. Meantime, let him carry the wood and water for a
week."

We found it not difficult now to go aboard the _Belle Helene_, for, in
the lessening seaway, she rolled not so evilly. Peterson sprang to the
deck as the bow of our boat rose alongside on a wave, and made fast
our line. When Williams and I had followed, we took a general
inventory of the _Belle Helene_. All the deck gear was gone, spare
oars and spars, a canvas or so, and some coils of rope. Beyond that,
there seemed no serious damage, unless the hull had been injured by
its pounding during the night.

"It's a mud-bank here, I think, Mr. Harry," said Peterson. "She may
have ripped some of her copper on the oyster reefs, but she seems to
bed full length and maybe she's not strained, after all."

"There's the line of channel guides," said I, pointing to a row of
sticks driven into the mud a couple of miles in length.

"Yes," said the old man, "the channel's not more than a biscuit toss
from here. We came right across it--if it hadn't been in the dark,
we'd have gone through into the lee of the island and been all right.
Now as it is, we're all wrong."

"How do you mean?" I asked.

"How'll we get that anchor up?" grumbled he. "If we start the engines
and try to crawl up by the capstan, we couldn't pull her out of the
mud. If we put on a donkey engine we'd snatch the bow out of here
before we could lift the hook. And until we do, how are we going to
move her? There's the channel, but it's as far as ever. We can't sweep
her off, of course, and we can't pole her off."

"Well, Peterson," said I, "let us, by all means, hope for the worst."
I smiled, seeing that he now was possessed of his normal gloom.

"Well," said he, "we went on at full tide, and hard aground at that.
This wind is blowing all the water out of Cote Blanche. Of course, if
the wind should turn and drive in again, we might move her, if we
caught her at high tide once more. Until that happens, I guess we're
anchored here for sure."

"The glass is rising now, Peterson," said I, pleasantly.

"Oh, yes, it may rise a little," said he, "and of course the storm's
gone by for the time. But I don't think there's going to be any good
change of weather that'll hold, very soon. But now, Williams and I'll
go below and see if we can start a pump. I expect she's sprung a
leak, all right."

Shaking his head in much apprehension, the old man made his way with
Williams, first into th