Another answer from the whistle, and the bow of the recklessly-steered craft came from out the fog not thirty feet away, while Captain Eph sprang to the oars, pulling the little dory for dear life out of the track of the steamer.
He worked with a will, and as the huge hull passed, disappearing almost immediately in the vapor, the dory was hardly more than ten yards from the mighty paddles, which would, despite the fact that the course had been shifted, have crushed the little boat into splinters, but for the old keeper's exertions.
"You lubbers!" Captain Eph screamed as he leaped to his feet and shook his fist in the direction where the steamer had disappeared. "Get a scow the next time you go out sailin', for you ain't fit to run anything that goes by steam!"
It is not probable the words were heard by those on the wildly steered craft; but the speaking of them seemed to do the old keeper a world of good, although he was very nearly thrown over-board by the violent tossing of the dory on the swell raised by the wheels.
"I've been knockin' about at sea, man an' boy, pretty much all my life, except for the spell I was in the army, an' that's the closest shave I ever had!" Captain Eph cried as he pulled in the oars to wipe the perspiration from his face. "We jest squeaked out of it, an' that's about all you can say, holdin' to the truth!"
"Did you make out what steamer it was?" Sidney asked, raising the question not so much because he was eager for information, as to hide the terror which he feared might be read on his face.
"YOU LUBBERS!" CAPTAIN EPH SCREAMED.
"If I had, I'd pull this 'ere dory all the way to the mainland for the sake of reportin' 'em as a crew of lunatics what ought'er be locked up before they drown themselves! It was some pleasure craft, manned by a lot of idjuts who most likely think they are sailormen because of once havin' sailed a toy boat in a wash-tub," and Captain Eph took up the oars again. "I reckon we'll let that put an end to our fishin' for this day."