"Of course he will be," said Bart; "if he did turn up, they'd make him stay at the house, you know; and he'd know that we fellows would come down here in the hope of hearing about him. So we'll find him there all right, after all. Hurrah!"
But, on reaching his home, Bart's joyous meeting with his family was very much marred by the deep, dark, and bitter disappointment that awaited him and his companions.
They knew nothing whatever about Tom. Bart's father was shocked at the story. He knew that no boy had been picked up adrift in the bay during the past week. Such an event would have been known. He felt exceedingly anxious, and at once instituted a search among the coasting vessels. The search was a thorough one, but resulted in nothing. There was no one who had seen anything of a drifting boat. All reported thick fog in the bay.
The result of this search plunged Bart and his friends into their former gloom.
Other searches were made. Inquiries were sent by telegraph to different places, but without result.
The fate of the missing boy now became a serious question
As for Bart and his friends, they were inconsolable.
XVIII.
Down the Bay.—Drifting and Anchoring.—In the Dark, morally and physically.—Eastport, the jumping-off Place.—Grand Manan.—Wonderful Skill.—Navigating in the Fog.—A Plunge from Darkness into Light, and from Light into Darkness.