“Avast there!” spluttered the old whaleman. “What in thunderation’s up? Fust a chunk o’ mounting an’ then you two scallawags! What in Sam Hill ye in sech a hurry fer? Bear a chasin’ on ye?”
“No,” stammered Tom. “We were lost. Where are we?”
“Where be ye?” reiterated the old man. “Where be ye? Why, right ’longside o’ the shack a course. Where’d ye think ye wuz? Derned queer way ye have o’ comin’ home!”
CHAPTER XI
A STRANGE MESSAGE
The boys actually had tumbled into camp from the hill behind the shack, and they joined heartily in the laughter of the men, when they related their story of being lost in the fog.
“Shure, an’ Oi wuz a-sayin’ to Misther Potter that maybe yez was lost,” Mike affirmed, “an’ twas meself what wuz for goin’ afther yez if yez didn’t turrn up soon.”
“Gid out!” jeered Cap’n Pem. “Ye’d be a fine one ter go gawallupin’ over these ’ere hills with that there wooden lig o’ yourn. Know’d the boys ’ud git in ship-shape.”
“B’gorra thin, Oi could do as well as yez at anny rate,” insisted Mike.
Cap’n Pem snorted, but forbore a retort and warned the boys against taking any risks in the future.
“Don’t ye never go off without a-takin’ a gun an’ a compass,” he commanded them. “An’ ef ye go out o’ sight o’ camp, mind ye watch the way ye’re a-goin’ of. ’Tain’t no jokin’ matter ter git lost here. It’s a heap bigger islan’ than ye think an’ fog’s li’ble ter come on any time.”