“I see something,” said Frank, after a searching look. “But if it is a ship or a small island I cannot tell.”
“Da ship!” cried Sven Orlaff. “Da ship sure!”
“Do you mean your ship?” queried Mark.
“I no can say ’bout dat. Look lak my ship, but no sure.”
For several minutes they watched the vessel in silence. Would it come toward them?
“Let us raise a signal of distress,” said Frank. “Here, I’ll put my shirt up on the end of a board.” And this was done without delay.
“We mak big smoke—dat be verra goot,” suggested Sven Orlaff, and began to kindle a blaze where the former fire had been. Over this he placed some wet bits of board which soon produced so much smoke that it nearly choked them.
“They ought to see that,” said Frank.
“You must remember that this raft is much smaller than the ship, Frank,” answered Mark, who was afraid of raising false hopes. “When we go down into a hollow of the sea we are completely out of their sight.”
An anxious quarter of an hour went by, during which the ship seemed to come a little nearer.