"Don't turn back," she
cried. "I'm not the girl I was. I've endured so much here that--
I'm always in fear. Anything would be better than going back."
When morning came O'Reilly made a closer examination of the
abandoned boat. The result was not encouraging, and when he told
Leslie of his intention to make use of it the latter stared at him
in open amazement.
"Why, we'll all be drowned!" Branch declared.
"You can return to Cubitas if you wish."
"Yes, and fight some more! No, thank you! I've got a hunch that
I'll be killed by the very next gun I see."
"Then you'd better risk the sharks."
Jacket, who was conducting an independent examination of the
craft, made an encouraging report. "Ho! I'd go 'round the world in
this boat," said he. "She's rotten, and you can stick your finger
through her, but fish have no fingers. When the water comes in
we'll dip it out."
"Do you want to go with us?" Johnnie eyed the newspaper man
curiously.
"I--Y--yes!" Branch gasped. "I'll go, but it's a shame to lose all
of Rosa's diamonds."
O'Reilly and one of the guides rode away to the farmhouse
discovered on the previous afternoon, and returned in a few hours
with all the tools they could find, together with a bucket of tar
and a coil of galvanized wire. Then work began.
The wire, cut into short pieces, served as nails and staples with
which to draw together the gaping seams.
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