"Push off! Push off!" cried Mr. Parker. "The island will sink, soon!"
"I think we will be safer on the island than on the raft," declared Captain Mentor. "We had better land again."
They left the little raft, and stood on the shore of the island. Eagerly they watched the approach of the steamer. They could make out hands and handkerchiefs waving to them now. There was eager hope in every heart.
Suddenly, some distance out in the water, and near where the big raft was anchored, there was a curious upheaval of the ocean. It was as if a submarine mine had exploded! The sea swirled and foamed!
"It's a good thing we didn't go out there," observed Captain Mentor. "We would have been swamped, sure as guns."
Almost as he spoke the big raft was tossed high into the air, and fell back, breaking up. The castaways shuddered. Yet were they any safer on the island? They fancied they could feel the little part of it that remained trembling under their feet.
"The steamer is stopping!" cried Mr. Damon.
Surely enough the Cambaranian had slowed up. Was she not going to complete the rescue she had begun?
