Then the first assistant waved his arms wildly, and shouted at the full strength of his lungs:
"Ahoy! What's the matter?"
It was probable that the wind carried his words down to the steamer; but when a man emerged from the wheel-house with a megaphone, and evidently made some reply, it was as if he were indulging in a pantomime, for not a sound came to the ears of those on the tower.
"I can't hear you," Mr. Peters shouted, repeating the words again and again until he was literally red in the face, and the man on the steamer evidently replied again; but it was as if he had not spoken.
"I'm gettin' tired of this fool business," Mr. Peters said irritably. "Why didn't they stay at home?"
"Perhaps some one saw the smoke of the fire, and sent word that the tower was burned," Sidney suggested, and then Mr. Peters shouted, using his hands as a trumpet:
"We're all right here! Nothin' the matter with us!" and he added in a lower tone, "It's no use to try an' make 'em understand that Cap'n Eph an' Uncle Zenas are off duty, for they couldn't hear me."
Once more the man with the magaphone shouted, and then the bow of the little steamer was headed landward, the steam which escaped from the whistle-valve telling that she had saluted.
"If that ain't a leetle the biggest wild goose chase I ever heard of, then my name's Benjamin, which it ain't!" Mr. Peters exclaimed as he led the way inside the lantern, and when the window had been carefully closed, he asked sharply:
"What sent 'em out here on a day like this?"