By seven o’clock on the following morning, Captain Pratt was at work at the Antelope. The tide had retreated far enough to allow of an investigation of her condition, though the water which had filled her at the last tide had not run out of her. His first work was to bore a few auger holes along the lower part of her deck, to let all the water run out. The Antelope was not, after all, so very deep in the mud as had been supposed by the boys. It had covered her taffrail some inches, but this could be shovelled away without any very severe exertion; and it was to this that Captain Pratt and his men first directed their energies. Two hours’ work sufficed for them to clear away all this, after which they turned their attention to other things. First of all, as the water had now run out, Captain Pratt stopped up the auger holes tightly, and then prepared to close the hatchways. This was a work of extreme difficulty. The hatches which belonged to the schooner had floated away long ago, and it was necessary to make new ones. This was at length done by working up some stuff that was on board Captain Pratt’s vessel, which they then proceeded to fasten to the hatchways of the Antelope. The position in which the schooner lay made it excessively difficult. She was on her side on a slope in such a way that her deck overhung them somewhat as they worked, so that they labored at a great disadvantage; however, they persevered, and at length had the satisfaction of seeing that the new hatches were fastened in with sufficient firmness to suit their purposes, and were judged to be sufficiently water-tight for the present emergency. The work thus far, important though it was, had been essentially preliminary; and now the machinery had to be arranged for the immediate work of raising the fallen vessel to her proper position. Captain Pratt and his men took a number of spars from their schooner, and selecting three of them, bound their ends together, and stood these three like a tripod, as near to the schooner as possible, and close by the foremast. Three more bound together in a similar way were placed near the mainmast. From the top of each of these a tackle-block was suspended, and a line also was passed from each, and run around a tree which stood about a dozen yards away from the edge of the bank. Another line passed from each tackle-block, and was fastened around each mast of the schooner. Captain Pratt’s design was now evident.