Читать книгу The Secret Chart; or, Treasure Hunting in Hayti онлайн

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He did not have an opportunity to finish the sentence, for at this point the boys literally roared with laughter, and he turned away indignantly, refusing to speak again until some one from the deck shouted:

“The key is in sight. If you boys want to get the first glimpse of the shipwrecked sailors, it is time you were tumbling up here.”

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Gil and Nelse, who had expected to see an island of fair proportions, were considerably disappointed on reaching the deck at the scene before them.

A long, low stretch of sand, hardly rising above the level of the ocean, could be distinguished directly ahead, and was about as uninviting a place as one could find. Toward the eastward the surf broke with considerable violence, and this it was, rather than the key itself, which attracted attention to the spot.

Already preparations were being made to lower one of the boats, and Gil asked his father:

“How near can we go to land?”

“It isn’t safe to venture very far across. It is all shoal water to the westward of us, and I shall hold the schooner off about a mile.”