grapnel

Dad went to work getting the grapnel hook ready.

Dad said that if the kayak was still there, we could snare it with the grapnel hook, which was actually an extra anchor he kept on board.

We pulled in the pole and threw out the grapnel hook, watching the attached rope spin from its coil on the boat floor.

The basket was tossing and lurching so violently it was hard to tell if they were going down, and the gusts were so sudden and wayward that they might easily have been blown high into the sky without knowing; but after a minute or so Lee felt a sudden snag and knew the grapnel had caught on a branch.

A moment later came the most jolting shock of all as the grapnel found a branch that held it fast.