_Daybreak.--Startling Discovery.--The Boat gone.--Where are Bruce and Bart?--Dismay.--The long Row.--The distant Ship.--Below the Horizon.--Deep in the Water.--The shattered Sails.--Waterlogged!--Boarding the Stranger.--Discoveries of a Kind which are at once exciting and pleasing._ WITH the break of day the boys were all on deck. Their first impulse was to take a look around. They saw the reddening eastern sky and the smooth water all around them, and their hearts sank within them as they perceived that the wearisome calm still continued. They noticed, however, that the ship was still visible, and this was some consolation. It seemed now a little nearer than the day before. “Captain,” said Tom, “we’ve got nearer to her: don’t you think so?” The captain made no reply. Tom looked up, and repeated his remark. As he looked up, he saw Captain Corbet standing astern with a puzzled expression, and looking down into the water and all around. “What’s the matter?” asked Tom. “The boat,” said Captain Corbet. “What of her?” “Some one’s been and stole her, or else she’s gone to the bottom, only the rope’s gone, too.” “What! the boat!” cried Tom. “You don’t mean to say the boat’s gone!” The other boys were startled at this, and hurried aft to look for themselves. “I’m glad I wasn’t in her this time, at any rate,” said Tom, and then added in a melancholy voice, “but I suppose it wouldn’t make much difference now.” The boys stood in silence for some time, not quite knowing how to take this new incident. At length Phil looked all around. “Where’s Bart?” he asked, “and Bruce?” “They’re not up,” said Tom. “Don’t wake them. Let them sleep as long as they can.” “Up? They’re not down, either,” said Phil. “Their berths are empty.” The boys all stared at each other. A suspicion flashed across their minds. “Sure and if they’re not up nor down, they must be in the boat, and there you have it,” said Pat, dryly. “And it’s meself,” he added, “that ’ud be proud to be with thim this day.” “The boat? But what for?” asked Phil. “They must have started off for the ship,” said Tom, who-now understood all. At this they all looked with eager eyes over the water in the direction of the ship. All thought that they could see a shadowy spot, but it was too indistinct as yet to be resolved into anything. After a few minutes Phil went below, and returned with the glass, through which he looked long and attentively. “It’s them,” said he at last, passing the glass to Arthur. Arthur looked, and then Tom, and then Pat, and then Captain Corbet. It grew brighter and brighter every moment, and at length, as Corbet looked, he saw the boat plainly for an instant; but the next moment the glare of the rising sun drove his eyes away. The sun rose and ascended higher, and still they could see the boys rowing with quick strokes very far away, while beyond lay the strange ship.