“Goin doun!” said Captain Corbet, dreamily. “Only think of the Antelope goin doun!”
“Come, captain,” said Bruce, taking his arm. “The boat’s all ready.”
“O, yes,” said the captain; “and the Antelope’s goin doun! Dear me! Only think of it!”
“Captain Corbet,” said Arthur, solemnly, “we’re all ready. Come, go aboard the boat.”
“Well—well—well,” said the captain. “Very well. O, all right. O, yes. You jest git into the boat. Git along. Never mind me. I’ll wait a while, you know. You go ahead. I’ll jest meander around here while you’re gettin into the boat. All right.”
At this the boys went off to the boat, and dropped in one after the other. Bruce, and Arthur, and Tom, and Phil, and Bart. Pat lingered behind. Those who had got into the boat expected that the others would follow at once, and now looked eagerly towards them.
They were afloat astern; and there, at the stern of the Antelope, stood Captain Corbet, surveying them with a melancholy air.
“Come along, captain,” said Bart.
“O, all right. Wait till the rest go,” said he. “Tain’t right for me to clar out jest yet. The captain must allers be the last to quit the sinkin ship.”
At this the boys called to the others,—to Pat, who had lingered behind, to Solomon, and to Wade.