"But if he did, why didn't he notify the authorities?"
"The Peacock must have given the river police the slip; that's the only answer I can make, Sam."
"But they could have telegraphed to different points."
"Well, I can't make it out, and we'll have to take what comes."
"Where do you suppose we are bound?"
"I haven't the least idea."
Hour after hour went by, and still nobody came to them. It did, indeed, look as if they were to be starved to death. But just as Sam was almost fainting for the want of food, the door to the cabin passageway was flung open, and Captain Langless appeared with a lantern, followed by Arnold Baxter, who carried a tray containing a plate of bread and two bowls of beef stew.
"Hungry, I'll wager," said the captain laconically. All the pleasantness he had previously exhibited had vanished.
"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves to let us starve so long," replied Tom, who never hesitated to speak his mind.
"Hi! don't talk that way, or you shall have nothing," cried Arnold
Baxter. "We are masters, and you must understand it so."