The ship-carpenter was but an indifferent swimmer, and the youth was not strong enough to have swam half a mile.

It was doubtful if either could have reached the spot where the apes seemed to have made their rendezvous.

And if so, they would have been too exhausted to have rendered any service in case of a sudden conflict.
The brave Irishman, devoted to his old skipper, and Henry, anxious to share his father's fate, would have made the attempt; but Captain Redwood restrained them, directing both to await his return.
They stood close to the water's edge, following the swimmers with their eyes, and with prayers for their success, scarcely uttered in words, but fervently felt; Murtagh, according to the custom of his country and creed, sealing the petition by making the sign of the cross..