Sure enough! a second look satisfied Mulford that two mast-heads were out of water, and that within a hundred yards of the place the boat was running past.  Standing on a short distance, or far enough to give himself room, the mate put his helm down, and tacked the boat.  The flapping of the sail, and the little movement of shifting over the sheet, awoke Rose, who was immediately apprized of the discovery.  As soon as round, the boat went glancing up to the spars, and presently was riding by one, Jack Tier having caught hold of a topmast-shroud, when Mulford let fly his sheet again, and luffed short up to the spot.  By this time the increasing light was sufficiently strong to render objects distinct, when near by, and no doubt remained any longer in the mind of Mulford about the two mast-heads being those of the unfortunate Mexican schooner.

“Well, of all I have ever seen I’ve never see’d the like of this afore!” exclaimed Jack.  “When we left this here craft, sir, you’ll remember, she had almost turned turtle, laying over so far as to bring her upper coamings under water; now she stands right side up, as erect as if docked!  My navigation can’t get along with this, Mr. Mulford, and it does seem like witchcraft.”

“It is certainly a very singular incident, Jack, and I have been trying to come at its causes.”

“Have you succeeded, Harry?” asked Rose, by this time wide awake, and wondering like the others.

“It must have happened in this wise.  The wreck was abandoned by us some little distance out here, to windward.  The schooner’s masts, of course, pointed to leeward, and when she drifted in here, they have first touched on a shelving rock, and as they have been shoved up, little by little, they have acted as levers to right the hull, until the cargo has shifted back into its proper berth, which has suddenly set the vessel up again.”

“Ay, ay, sir,” answered Jack, “all that might have happened had she been above water, or any part of her above water; but you’ll remember, maty, that soon after we left her she went down.”

“Not entirely.  The wreck settled in the water no faster after we had left it, than it had done before.  It continued to sink, inch by inch, as the air escaped, and no faster after it had gone entirely out of sight than before; not as fast, indeed, as the water became denser the lower it got.  The great argument against my theory, is the fact, that after the hull got beneath the surface, the wind could not act on it.  This is true in one sense, however, and not in another.  The waves, or the pressure of the water produced by the wind, might act on the hull for some time after we ceased to see it.  But the currents have set the craft in here, and the hull floating always, very little force would cant the craft.  If the rock were shelving and slippery, I see no great difficulty in the way; and the barrels may have been so lodged, that a trifle would set them rolling back again, each one helping to produce a change that would move another.  As for the ballast, that, I am certain, could not shift, for it was stowed with great care.  As the vessel righted, the air still in her moved, and as soon as the water permitted, it escaped by the hatches, when the craft went down, as a matter of course.  This air may have aided in bringing the hull upright by its movements in the water.”