"What are we going to do with the Spindrift when we get her back to Wootton, sir?" asked Findlay.

"Find a suitable spar, use the old fittings and make a new mast," replied Mr. Graham.

"I don\'t mean that exactly, sir," continued Jock. "Do you intend to keep her there or sail her back to the East Coast?"

"That is a matter for all of you to decide," said the Scoutmaster. "Personally, I think she draws too much water for the Essex estuaries. That would limit us to the deeper channels. Here, on the South Coast, are plenty of harbours capable of taking her at any state of the tide, and it would take two seasons to explore the Solent, Portsmouth, Langston, and Chichester Harbours, to say nothing of Poole Harbour."

"I vote we keep her on the South Coast, sir," suggested Desmond. "It\'s a new cruising ground, and we can get six weeks every summer. We still have our cutter at Southend to go afloat in during the week-ends."

To this the others agreed.

"That settles it, then," added Mr. Graham. "We can go into details later. What\'s that on your starboard bow?"

The lads looked in the direction indicated. Just above the horizon was a faint, triangular-shaped patch of white.

"Looks like a sail, sir," said Coles.

"Six hundred feet in height, eh?" exclaimed the Scoutmaster. "No, it\'s not a sail, Coles, it\'s the chalk cliff at the western end of the Isle of Wight, sixteen miles away."

At eight o\'clock Christchurch Head was abeam, distance two miles, with the needle-like shaft of Hurst High Light showing ahead against the sky.

"We\'ll do it if the breeze holds," declared Desmond. "How much petrol have we on board, Jock?"

"Three full tins and one about half full," replied Findlay.

"You took in enough while you were about it," commented the Patrol Leader.

"Nothing like being on the safe side," was Findlay\'s rejoinder.

"Look!" exclaimed Hayes, pointing to a craft about a mile on the starboard bow. "Isn\'t that the Olivette?"

"Believe it is," said Desmond, picking up his binoculars. Then, leaning over the companion, he announced:

"Olivette in sight, sir."

Mr. Graham, who was consulting a chart in the cabin, came on deck.

"She\'s spotted us," he exclaimed. "She\'s slowed down to have a run in company. Perhaps they\'ve noticed our broken mast."

"Jolly decent of them," said Hayes.

A quarter of an hour later, the two vessels were within hailing distance.

"Hello! Armitage," called out Mr. Graham. "Going to give us a tow in?"

"Wish we could," was the reply. "We\'re broken down—out of fuel."

"Tank\'s leaking," supplemented Woodleigh, to dispel any suggestion that the fault lay in not providing sufficient fuel. "It\'s done that before, but we thought we\'d fixed it up all right."

The Spindrift ran alongside the "fifty-four footer ", and a line was thrown and made fast. Although the breeze still held, the sea was comparatively smooth.

"You can\'t tow us," objected Mr. Armitage. "You\'ve as much as you can do to carry on with that broken mast. I was about to send a boat ashore for some paraffin."

"No need," replied Mr. Graham. "Your engine will run on petrol. We can let you have a couple of tins—three if necessary, and we\'ve about three gallons of paraffin for the stove. You can have that."

"What are you doing with petrol, then?" asked Mr. Armitage.

"Oh, we\'ve a motor too," replied Desmond proudly. "A dinky little outboard."

The offer of the petrol and paraffin was gladly accepted. Already the leak in the tank had been soldered, and all that was required was to fill up and restart the engine.

"Stow your canvas, Graham," said Mr. Armitage. "You won\'t want that again this evening. We\'ll tow you into Keyhaven. That will suit, I hope?"

"Perfectly," was the reply.

The Olivette gathered way, the Spindrift following meekly at the end of a four-inch grass hawser, and well before dark both boats were safely moored in the narrow and sheltered waters of Keyhaven.

"I think we can fix you up with a spar to-morrow," said Mr. Armitage, when the Milford Sea Scouts boarded the Spindrift to see what sort of craft the Southend lads had obtained. "A yacht came ashore at Milford last month and became a total wreck. We bought a lot of her gear, including her mast. I think it would just suit you."

"Thanks awfully," replied Mr. Graham. "What do you want for it?"

"Pooh, pooh!" protested Mr. Armitage. "We are not dealers in marine stores. We bought the stick for a mere song, thinking it might come in handy for a signal mast for our hut. But it would be a jolly sight more useful in a yacht, I take it."

"And we have all the tools for the job in our boathouse," added Woodleigh. "We\'ll all turn out to-morrow and lend a hand. Many hands make light work."

"And too many cooks spoil the broth," laughed Flemming. "However, we\'ll all see if we can help without tumbling over each other."

Early next morning, as soon as the dew had vanished, the Milford Sea Scouts gathered at their boat store. The mast and a couple of stout scaffold-poles were placed on a truck and wheeled down to the quay.

Here they were joined by the crew of the Spindrift, and while one party sandpapered down the mast and applied a coat of quick-drying varnish, the others brought the yacht alongside and rigged up a pair of sheer legs. These were set up with their heels wedged alongside the shroud plates, and guyed fore and aft with strong tackles.

By this means the broken mast was lifted out and carried ashore. The running and standing rigging and halliards were then removed and transferred to the new mast, which by this time was quite dry.

It was a tricky job shipping the new mast. Not only was it longer than the broken spar but considerably heavier, and the height of the sheer legs was not enough to hoist it in an almost perpendicular position.

"We can hold the heel down," said Findlay.

"No," objected Mr. Graham............