"That stick will turn the yacht over!" gasped Tom.
Poor Sam could not speak, for a wave had struck him full in the mouth,
and he had all he could do to keep from being washed overboard.
The girls in the cabin heard the crash above the roaring of the
elements, and let up a scream of alarm.
"Are we going down?"
"Shall we come out on deck?"
"Stay where ye are!" shouted back Captain Jerry, clinging to the
wheel with a grip of steel. Then he turned to Dick: "Can ye git an
ax and clear away the wreck?"
"I'll try it," replied the eldest Rover, and he moved cautiously to
where an ax rested in a holder. Soon he had the article in hand, and
was chopping away as fast as he could, while Tom, holding to the
bottom of the mast with one hand, held Dick with the other. Sam, in
the meantime, cut away some.. cordage with a hatchet which was handy.
It was truly a perilous moment, and it looked as if the mighty waves
would swamp the Old Glory before the wreckage could be cleared away.
The girls stood at a cabin window watching the work and ready to leap
out if the yacht should start to go down.
"There it goes!" cried Dick, at last, and gave another stroke with
the ax. There followed a snap and a crack, and overboard slid the
broken mast, carrying a mass of cordage with it.
At once the Old Glory righted herself, sending a small sheet of water
flowing from one side of the deck to the other.
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