The wind was very light, and her speed was not above five knots an hour.

We should be able to paddle back in the course of ten days, and must take provisions sufficient for that time.
"The first point, of course, will be to find whether the old ship is still on the reef.

If she is not there she may have succeeded in getting off, or she may have gone to pieces.

I trust however that the admiral, who is full of resource, has managed to get her off in safety.

He will, no doubt, have spent a day or two in looking for us; but finding no signs of us, in the island to which we were sent, or in the other lying in sight to the southward, he will have shaped his way for the Cape.
"The first difficulty, then, is to procure sufficient provisions.
The next is to make our escape unseen.