ll the way up
the bay agin, back to Petticoat Jack by the shore route,--an as that's
too rough a route for an ole man, why, I calc'late it's not to be
thought of. Ef, on the contrairy, he only kem out to hunt for fish,
'tain't likely he come as fur as this, an in my pinion he didn't come
nigh as fur. You see we're a good piece on, and Solomon wouldn't hev
come so fur if he'd cal'lated to get back to the schewner. What d'ye
say to that?"

"I've thought of that already," said Bruce, sadly. "We've certainly
gone as far as he could possibly have gone."

"Terrew," said Captain Corbet, solemnly.

"But what can we do now?" asked Bart.

"Fust of all, go back."

"What! give him up?"

"I didn't say that. I said to go back, an keep a good lookout along
the shore."

"But we've done that already."

"Yes, I know; but then we didn't begin to yell till quite lately,
whereas we'd ought to hev yelled from the time of fust startin. Now, I
think ef we went back yellin all the way, we'd have a chance of turnin
him up somewhar back thar whar we fust came in sight of the cliff.
Very likely, if he ain't already drownded, he's a twisted himself up in
some holler in the cliff back thar. He couldn't hev got this fur,
certain,--unless he'd ben a runnin away."

All this seemed so certain to the boys that they had nothing to say in
opposition to it. In fact, as Bruce said, they had already gone as far
as Solomon could possibly have gone, and this thought had occurred to
them all. Captain Corbet's proposition, therefore, seemed to them the
only course to follow. So they all turned and went back again.

"What I was a goin to say," remarked Captain Corbet, after walking a
few paces,--"what I was a goin to say was this. The mistake I made was
in not gettin a boat."

"A boat? Why we've traced the coast from the cliff well
enough--haven't we?"

"No, not well enough. We'd ought to have planned this here expedition
more kerfully. It wan't enough to go along the top of the cliff this
here way. You see, we've not been able to take in the lower part of
the cliff underneath. We'd ought to hev got a boat. Some of us could
hev gone along the cliff, jest as we hev ben doin, and the others could
have pulled along the shore an kep up a sharp lookout that way. We've
lost any quantity o' time that way, but that's no reason why we should
lose any more; so I muve that some of us go back, right straight off,
an get a boat at the ship-yar