"We'll not get blue about it until we have to," said Elsie, though the thought had saddened her more than once.
"Just see how the fog is coming down!" Inza observed.
"Hello!" cried Hodge, "another vessel!"
A steamer hove into view through the thickening mist. The boats began to sound their whistles.
"A sort of Flying Dutchman!" remarked Merriwell, and, indeed, the passing steamer did seem more a phantasm of the fog than a real vessel carrying living, breathing people. The Merry Seas sounded her whistle at frequent intervals as she pushed on into the fog, and for some time after the steamer had vanished her hoarse whistle could also be heard.
"Hello!" cried Browning, who had been lazily looking over some late New York papers.
The tone and the change in his manner told that he had come on a startling piece of news.
"What is it?" Diamond asked.
"Maybe only the same name!" said Browning, and then read this paragraph from the telegraphic columns:
"A young Irishman named Barney Mulloy was attacked and killed by hoboes near Sea Cove, on the coast not far from Sandy Hook, yesterday morning. The object of the tramps was doubtless robbery, as Mulloy is known to have had a considerable sum of money on his person."