Then he took his pole, and, putting a block under it, used it as a lever to raise up the boat.  By dexterous management he succeeded in doing this, and at the same time he ran a board underneath the bow of the boat as it was slightly raised.  This manoeuvre he repeated several times, each time raising his lever higher, by means of a higher fulcrum, and thus constantly raising the bow of the boat; while after each elevation the bow was secured in its new position by running an additional board underneath it, over the other preceding boards.  By carefully and perseveringly pursuing this course, he at length succeeded in raising the bow of the boat about a foot in the air.  This gave him an opportunity to examine it thoroughly outside as well as inside, and to see the whole extent of the damage that had been done.

It has already been said that the damage was serious.  Tom’s examination now convinced him that it was in every respect as serious as he had supposed, if not still more so.  Even if he did possess a hatchet and nails, or a whole box full of tools, he doubted whether it would be in his power to do anything whatever in the way of repairing it.  No less than three of the lower planks of the bows, down to the very keel, were beaten in and broken so badly that they seemed actually crushed and mangled.  It must have been a fearful beating, and pounding, and grinding on the rocks which had caused this.  The planks, though thus broken, still held together; but it seemed to Tom that with a blow of his fist he could easily beat it all in; and as he looked at it he could not help wondering how it had happened that the work which the rocks had thus so nearly effected had not been completely finished.  However, the planks did hold together yet; and now the question was, Could any thing be done?

In answer to this question, Tom thought of the old sail and the coil of rope.  Already he had conceived the rude outline of a plan whereby the entrance of the water might be checked.  The plan was worth trying, and he determined to set about it at once, and use up the hours before him as long as he could, without any further delay.  If by any possibility he could stop that leak, he determined to start off at the next high tide, that very night, and run the risk.  It was a daring, even a foolhardy thought; but Tom was desperate, and the only idea which he had was, to escape as soon as possible.

He now made some measurements, after which he went to the old sail, and cut a piece from the end of it.  This he divided into smaller pieces, each about a yard square.  Each of these pieces he folded up in three folds, so as to make them about a foot wide and eighteen inches long.  Others he folded into six folds, making them about half the size of the larger pieces.  All this took up much time, for he measured and planned very carefully, and his calculations and measurements had to be done slowly and cautiously.  Returning to the boat with these bits of folded canvas, he put one of the larger pieces on the inside, against the bow, right over the broken place.  Another large piece was placed carefully over this, and then the smaller pieces were laid against these.  In this way he adjusted all the pieces of canvas in such a way as to cover up the whole place where the leak was.