“All right, Captain.”
“Or, if you and Hugo want to ship with us? We’re short-handed.”
Jack considered deeply.
“There’s the lads, sir.”
“We might make them useful, and, with a successful voyage, they might get home almost as soon as waiting for a ship at our last landing station.”
“I’ll think it over, sir,” said Jack. “Meantime, make us useful around the ship.”
The boys were delighted with the Arctic, and the arrangements made for the capture of whales and the securing of oil fairly fascinated them.
Were it not for thoughts of anxious friends at home Will Bertram would have been glad to accompany the Arctic on her voyage.
Circumstances prevented their stopping at the landing place Captain Smith had spoken of. A storm drove the ship out of its course, and without passing a single ship, two weeks after picking up the sailors and the boys the captain assigned them to duties on the ship.
“You’ll have to stay with the Arctic till she returns, now,” he said, “and you might find less comfortable quarters.”