Tom, who had been below in his cabin for the last three hours, came on deck again at about nine in the morning. Somehow, he could not sleep. The sense of failure preyed upon his nerves.
For some minutes Captain Tom stood at the bridge rail, one hand at his ear. He was trying to catch even the faintest sound of another foghorn than the "Panther's."
At last he started.
"Did you hear that, Mr. Costigan?" he demanded.
"I heard nothing, sir."
"Then keep perfectly quiet, and listen hard."
Within two minutes both officers were sure they heard a fog-horn.
"But it's the fog-horn of a sailing vessel," muttered Tom, disappointedly.
"Coming this way, too, sir," replied Mr. Costigan.
"The people on the 'Victor' wouldn't hesitate to use a sailing vessel's signals in order to fool us," muttered Halstead.