"Hello, dad!" shouted Mike, waving his hand at him.
"Are ye alone?" asked the astonished parent.
"That's what I am, as yer brother said whin he fell overboard."
"Where are the byes?"
"I left them up the river; they'll be back agin one of these days."
Inasmuch as Mike showed no purpose of stopping, the father thought it time to assert his authority.
"What do ye maan, ye spalpeen, by such outrageous thricks? Come right to land, and resave the whaling ye desarve. Do ye hear me?"
"Thank ye, dad, for yer kind permission to take a sail; it's me intintion to return be morning or mayhap before. Don't worry, and tell mither I'm all right."
"Ye'll be all right whin I lays me hands on ye!"
The parent flung down his line and ran leaping along the rocks in the effort to keep abreast of the launch. He shook his fist and shouted: