d too probable that
the boats, before they could reach her, would be swamped. Already it
would be a difficult matter for them to get alongside. Tom, having
discovered that there were some blue lights on board, burnt one every
now and then, hoping that they might be seen and encourage the crews of
the wave-tossed boats. The surgeon told him that he still had some
hopes that they might escape, as boats had often done in a heavy sea, by
hanging on under the lee of a dead whale, which served as a breakwater.

"In that case we must take care not to go too far, or we may get to
windward of them, and they might not venture to leave the shelter which
the whale affords them," observed Tom. On this he proposed to the
boatswain to "heave to."

"We are not up to them yet," was the answer. "I was at sea before you
were born, young gentleman. Leave me to judge what is best to be done."

Tom made no reply. "We have got a queer character to deal with," he
observed to Desmond. "However, we must try to manage him, although it
will be a serious matter to us, as well as all on board, if we do not
recover the poor captain and mate."

No one turned in; indeed, all hands were required to put the ship about,
and all night long she was kept on tack and tack without any answering
signal. The doctor continued to fire at intervals one of the
six-pounder guns on deck, but no signal was heard in return. When
morning broke, the boatswain at length consented to heave to. Neither
of the boats had been seen, and those on board began to despair. The
gale showed no signs of abatement, while the sea had continued to
increase. High-tossing waves, crested with foam, rose up around, while
the sky was obscured by dense masses of dark clouds.

"Will your whaleboats live in a sea like this?" asked Tom of the
boatswain, who in his character as commanding officer was standing aft.

"I guess they could, young man, if they are handled as we know how to
handle them," was the answer.

"Then we may still hope to find the captain and mate," observed Desmond.

"If that whale did not smash up one of the boats with her flukes. If he
did, twelve people would prove a heavy cargo in a sea like this, and she
is likely enough to have been swamped."

"I am afraid that some such accident must have occurred," observed Tom.

"I guess you may not be far wrong," was the unsatisfactory remark.

On going into the cabin for breakfast they found Doctor Locock res