Not until the two were in the lantern did Sidney speak, and then it was to cry, as he burst into tears:
"Oh, Captain Eph, wouldn't it be dreadful if the wreck was the West Wind, having come out here after me?"
"Bless your heart, Sonny, it couldn't be her no-how, for she's way down by Porto Rico by this time."
"But father might have heard where I was, and come back after me!"
"Now don't get any sich idees into your head as that, for your father don't even dream where you are, more's the pity. Why my report hasn't yet reached the inspector, consequently there ain't a single soul, outside of us four, who knows anything about the it, because he hasn't come out here about it. Did the West Wind have a gun aboard?"
"No, sir."
"Then that part of it is settled. The craft that's taken the ledge yonder is a heavier vessel than your father's, so you can count him right out of your mind, so far as this wreck is concerned."
CHAPTER IX.
THE WRECK.
It was not surprising that Sidney should have feared the appeals for help came from the crew of the West Wind, for even Captain Eph had questioned in his own mind whether such might not be the case.