A STARTLING ADVENTURE.
During the conversation recorded none of the party had given much thought to conditions outside. Now, when he stepped to the door of the cabin, the ensign uttered a sharp cry of consternation.
"What's the matter?" asked Rob, as he approached.
"Matter enough. Look there!" was the rejoinder.
A dense white fog had come softly rolling up, and now the derelict Good Hope lay enwrapped in fleecy white clouds, thick and impenetrable.
"Well, we'll have to wait here in the boat till this clears off," declared Bob; "we could never find the Seneca in this mess."
"That's the worst of it," rejoined the lieutenant, "there is no boat."
"No boat," echoed Rob uncomprehendingly; "but we came in one. It will be waiting for us."
"No. I gave orders for the men to return to the Seneca and bring over a destructive mine, for I had determined to blow up this dangerous menace to navigation. They have not returned, that is evident, or I would have been notified. Boys, we are in a bad fix. I don't know how fast this old hulk is drifting; but I imagine that if this keeps up much longer, we shall fetch up a long way from the Seneca's whereabouts."
"Can't they cruise about and find us?" asked Merritt rather piteously. He was not a lad to underestimate the real seriousness of their position on board the old hulk in the impenetrable fog that hung in blanket-like wreaths everywhere about them.