"Nor I," the gunner answered, looking to
ward the stern of the boat; "let him fight his troubles out alone. As for where we're goin', I don't know. I can't even see the stars, so I don't know which way we're headin'."
"Do you suppose we'll strike Alaska?" Colin queried. "Or perhaps the north of Japan? Say, it would be great if we fetched up at Kamchatka or somewhere that nobody had ever been before!"
The lad's delight in the thought of landing at some inhospitable northern island off the coast of Asia was so boyish that in spite of the discomfort of their present position, the old whaler almost laughed outright.
"Japan's a long ways south of here," he said. "We'd strike the Aleutian or the Kuril Islands before we got near there. I reckon we ought to try for some place on the Alaska coast, but as I remember, the wind was dead east when we left the Gull an' I don't think it's changed much."
Colin gave a long yawn and then shivered.
"I wouldn't mind being in my berth on the Gull!" he said longingly; "I'm nearly dead with sleep."
"Why don't you drop off?" Hank advised. "There's nothin' you can do to help. Here,
change places with me an' you won't get so much spray."
"But you'll get it then!" the boy protested.