“And how long shall we have to wait?” asked Larry.
“Oh, about three or four hours,” said Antony.
“My mother will be very much frightened,” said Larry. “How sorry I am that we got into the boat!”
“So am I,” said Antony; “or, rather, I should be, if I thought it would do any good to be sorry.”
Captain Van Tromp misses them.
In the mean time, while the boys had thus been making their involuntary voyage down the harbor, Captain Van Tromp, on board his ship, had been employed very busily with his accounts in his cabin. It was now nearly noon, and he concluded, accordingly, that it was time for him to go home to dinner. So he called one of the sailors to him, and directed him to look about on the pier and try to find the boys, and tell them that he was going home to dinner.
In a few minutes the sailor came back, and told the captain that he could not find the boys; and that Jack, who was at work outside on the pier, said that they had not been seen about there for more than an hour, and that the boat was missing too; and he was afraid that they had got into it, and had gone adrift.
“Send Jack to me,” said the captain.
When Jack came into the cabin, the captain was at work, as usual, on his accounts. Jack stood by his side a moment, with his cap in his hand, waiting for the captain to be at leisure to speak to him. At length the captain looked up.
“Jack,” said he, “do you say that the boys have gone off with the boat?”