action and the feeling of having something to do, and as happy
and unconcerned as if he were safe on board the _Sea Rover_. "Oh, don't
you, Master Jonathan? Then allow me to inform you, as Dick Murphy says,
that there are more ways of killing a pig besides hanging him; and that
I see a way to our righting that boat."

"How?" inquired the other.

"I'll soon show you," said David. "But I guess and calculate it will
take a pretty considerable time I reckon, and you'll have to help us,
sirree."

"Of course I will," said Jonathan, laughing at David's apt imitation of
an American passenger on board their ship, who had unwittingly been the
source of much amusement to the two boys, with his drawling voice, and
habit of speaking through his nose in regular "down eastern" fashion.

"Well, bear a hand, old cock," said David jocularly, pleased at seeing
Jonathan laugh again, and getting off the boat's keel gingerly on to
their raft again. "The first thing we have to do, Jonathan, is to try
and raise the bow of the craft on top of these timbers here--or rather,
sink down the end of the wheelhouse roof so that it may get under the
boat. We can do it easy enough by both going to the extreme point of it
and bearing it down by our united weight; but mind you don't slip off,
old boy. Hold on tight."

It was no easy task, as the motion of the waves hindered them, and the
raft was lifting and falling as the surges rolled under them; besides
which, the boat was heavy, and the suction of the water seemed to keep
it down and resist their efforts.

However, they persevered, and, after innumerable attempts and failures,
succeeded at length in getting part of the bow of the cutter on to the
end of the raft, which it almost submerged, although it was itself
lifted clean out of the sea.

"So far, so good," said David, puffing and blowing like a grampus with
his exertions, and Jonathan following suit. "We'd better have a spell
off for a bit; the heaviest part of the work is yet to come."

"Don't you think," said Jonathan presently, after a rest, "that it would
be a good plan to float her stern round at right angles to the raft?
Then the waves would force her on to it, almost without our help."

"Right you are," said David. "Two heads are always better than one!"

"You stop where you are," said Jonathan. "You know your leg is bad; and
besides, I'm more at home in the water than you are, although you're a
sailor. I'll jump in, a