"And what does he call himself, Mr. Baldwin?" continued Uncle Dick.
"Captain Hank Wilson, were the words I caught, sir."
"What schooner is that?" shouted the captain of the whaler.
"The Stranger, Captain Richard Gaylord, just out of Honolulu," answered Uncle Dick; and the words were so plain and distinct that the master of the whaler could have heard them if he had been twice as far away.
"I'll send a boat aboard of you."
"Very good, sir," replied Uncle Dick. "There is something strange about this, Mr. Baldwin," he added. "That is the Tycoon if I ever saw her, but that isn't the scoundrel who commanded her while she was in the harbor of San Francisco. Stand by, now, and if any of our men come off in his boat we'll see that they don't go back."
There was no confusion on board the Stranger—there never was, for the discipline was too perfect for that—but everybody was highly excited. And the excitement was increased when the second mate went forward with the order, which he gave in a low voice: "All hands stand by, and be ready to jump when you hear the word." The sailors knew what that meant, and while some pushed back their sleeves, others laid handspikes where they could find them again at a moment's warning; and having thus prepared for any emergency, they moved to the side in a body, and awaited the coming of the whaler's boat with no little impatience. She came in sight at length, rounding the stern of the ship. Presently one of the men whispered something, which was passed along from one to another, until it reached the ears of the boys in the waist:
"I see Lucas in that boat, and Barton too!"
"But where is Frank?" said Archie, anxiously. "If he is aboard that ship now is his time to jump overboard and swim out to us."