"Time? I reckon not, unless you're achin' for a taste of the rope's end. Our skipper ain't any very mild tempered man at the best of times, an' this is one of his worst days, for everything has been goin' wrong end foremost jest when he wants to see the ship in apple-pie order."
"I thought you said somethin' about my bein' in luck, an' the only thing of the kind that could come to me, would be to know father was on deck."
"I don't reckon you'll see him aboard the Merrimac for some time to come, though you're nearer to him this minute than I ever allowed you'd be in this part of the world."
"What do you mean?" and Teddy literally trembled with the impatience of anticipation.
"Sampson's fleet is dead ahead. His vessels are the very ones we've come to coal, an' if that ain't luck enough for a stowaway, I'd like to know what you could call it?"
"Is the Brooklyn anywhere near?" and Teddy did his best to speak calmly.
"Dead ahead, I tell you."
"Will we run right alongside of her?"
"I don't allow you've any claim to count on luck like that; but we're hard by Sampson's fleet, and it'll be strange if we can't find a chance of lettin' your father know where you are."
"Find a chance? Why, I'll go right on deck an' yell to him. He's bound to come out when he hears me."