Lucas, Barton, Boson and Tully, all good oarsmen, comprised the boat's crew, and they were not long in taking their captain alongside the schooner. Seeing that the Club and Uncle Dick kept their glasses levelled at him, Frank drew his hat low over his forehead, and thanked the wind for turning the collar of his shirt up around his ears. He laughed to himself when he thought how amazed his friends would be to see him in those clothes and learn that he was the captain of the Tycoon—he who had been shanghaied and thrust into her forecastle to do duty as a common sailor! He thought he could have some sport with the schooner's company, and run no risk of being recognised. After comparing his reckoning with Uncle Dick's, he would slap the boys on the back and take all sorts of liberties with them, and see what they would do about it. But Dick Lewis upset all these calculations in short order. His sharp eyes penetrated Frank's disguise, and no sooner did his head appear above the schooner's rail than he was hauled aboard, lifted bodily from the deck and carried aft. He struggled hard to free himself, but the trapper held him fast, and finally stood him on his feet in front of Uncle Dick, just as he had done with the bogus captain.
"What do you mean?" demanded Frank, in a gruff voice. "If this is the way you treat your visitors, sir, I'll go back where I belong!"
Uncle Dick stared at Frank, who tried to look angry, but his eyes laughed in spite of himself. "Nelson!" he exclaimed, at a venture.
"That's jest who he are, cap'n," cried the trapper, bringing his heavy hand down on Frank's shoulder with such force that he shook all over. "Whiskers and all, that's him."
It was all out now, and Frank's little plan was exposed. Of course a great hubbub arose at once, and Frank judged by the greeting he received that his friends were just as glad to see him as he was to see them. Lucas and Barton met with an equally cordial reception from their friends in the forecastle, who were not a little surprised to find that one of them had worked his way to the quarter-deck during his absence.
Frank had a long story to tell, and it took him a long time to tell it. When it was ended, Uncle Dick and the Club had a good many questions to ask, and it took a long time to answer them; so that the two vessels remained alongside the greater part of the day. During that time boat's crews were exchanged, some of the schooner's company going off to visit the ship, and some of her crew coming back to visit the Stranger.
As soon as the conversation began to flag Frank spoke of the needs of the wounded captain, asking for some of the good things with which the Stranger was so amply provided; but Uncle Dick had something better to propose. "Write an order to your mate to send him off here," said he. "I have a medicine-chest, plenty of lint and bandages, and long experience has made me a passable physician and surgeon. I can take better care of him than you can, and perhaps he will feel easier when he is out of reach of his men."
Frank was only too glad to accept this kind offer, for he knew that the wounded man would be benefited by the change. He sent off an order to Mr. Gale, and half an hour afterward Captain Barclay was comfortably settled in the Stranger's cabin. He was delighted with his elegant quarters, and repeatedly declared that he did not deserve the treatment he received. If he was ever able to take the quarter-deck again he would be a different man.
His story told and all questions asked and answered, the young captain made ready to return to his ship. Of course all the boys went with him. Frank warned them that he could not give them such food or such quarters as they had on board the Stranger, but they didn't care for that. They wanted to see the Tycoon, and they made Frank promise, over and over again, that if the opportunity were offered, he would show them the operation of catching a whale. The Club tried to induce the trappers to go with them, but their entreaties and arguments fell on deaf ears. Dick and Bob knew that the Stranger was a safe boat, but they did not like to trust the Tycoon, and so thought it best to remain where they were.
"Brace for'ard main yard," said Frank, when all the whaler's boats had been hoisted at the davits. "Eugene, you said you couldn't understand how it came that you reached the Sandwich Islands three days after we did. Now I'll show you. Set studding sails, Mr. Gale."