ar as he could accomplish it, and
there remained nothing more to be done. As far as he could see, by
shaking, and pulling, and pushing at the collection of sticks and
canvas, it was very firm and secure. Every stick seemed to be tight,
and the pressure which they maintained against the aperture was so
strong that the wood-work now was forced out a little distance beyond
the outline of the boat. He examined most carefully all about the bows
on the outside, but saw no place which did not seem to be fully
protected. It seemed to him now as though that piled-up canvas ought
to resist the entrance of the water, or, if not, at least that it ought
not to allow it to enter so rapidly but that he could easily keep the
boat baled out.

He was not altogether confident, yet he was hopeful, and as determined
as ever to make a trial.

XII.

Waiting for high Water.--A Trial.--A new Discovery.--Total
Failure.--Down again.--Overboard.--A Struggle for Life.

Tom's work was thus, at length, accomplished, and it remained now to
get the boat in readiness and wait. Slowly and carefully he raised the
bow by means of the lever, and one by one he withdrew the boards which
held it up. At last the boat lay on the beach, ready to receive the
uplifting arms of the returning tide whenever it should make its
appearance again. Tom saw with satisfaction that the boat was about
three yards down below high-water mark, on the spot to which he had
dragged it after the failure of his last experiment. This, of course,
would be so much in his favor, for it would thus be able to float
before the water should reach its height.

He had worked hard all the afternoon, and it was already dark. The
tide, which had been falling, had some time ago reached its lowest
point, and was now returning. Between him and the lowest point was a
great distance, for the tides here rise to a perpendicular height of
over forty feet; but Tom knew that the time required to traverse the
long space that here intervened between high and low-water mark was
precisely the same as if it had only to rise a few feet.

He was very hungry, but some things had yet to be done. He had to put
on board the boat the articles that he had taken ashore. His matches
were now quite dry, and he put them in his pocket with a deep sense of
their value to him in his present position. His clothes also were dry,
and these he put on. The sail, the coil of rope, and the box of
biscuit