"No, no! Of course not," returned Barry, heartily. "Nothing as bad as that."
"What is it, then?"
"Why, it's only a shipwreck, or something like that. Of course they've been rescued; folks always are, you know. And they'll have lots of adventures to write you about."
Bobby was speechless. His pretty, delicate mother shipwrecked! Of course, his father would save her, but she might get wet and catch cold; that was the first thought that took form in his mind.
"News has come about the big ship they sailed away on," Barry Gray went on, cheerfully. "Another ship has found part of the deckworks of your father's steamship, all scorched and burned. There must have been a fire at sea."
"Well, don't you s'pose they could put the fire out with so much water around?" asked Bobby, seriously.
"That's right!" exclaimed Barry. "But perhaps the machinery was hurt, so the ship couldn't be made to go. There wasn't any sails to her, of course."
"I see," said Bobby, gravely, nodding.
"So they had to take to the boats. You know how it is: Women and children first! The sailors are always so brave. And the officers stand by to the last—and if the ship sinks, the captain always goes down with her, standing on the quarter deck, with the flags flying. You've read about it, Bobby!"
"Sure!" choked Bobby.