"I don't know, sir."
"Well, I guess I can see about the way it was and I guess I owe my life to you two boys. But, tell me, didn't they agree to wait till you came back?"
"Well, they said they'd wait five minutes, but I guess we were considerable longer than that," Jack told him.
"And they went off without you, eh?"
"I'm afraid they did, sir."
"I know it, but perhaps it's best not to judge them too harshly. I suppose a man has a right to save his own life."
"But what happened to you, sir?" Bob asked as he rested on his oars for a moment.
"I must have fainted," the captain told them. "You see I was subject to fainting spells some years ago and had to give up the sea for several years but, after I had gone five years without a single one, I thought I was over them and persuaded the owners to let me have a command again. This was my first voyage," he groaned. "But I suppose the excitement and severe strain was responsible for the relapse. I shall never try it again."
"Do we seem to be getting any nearer the other boats?" Bob asked a little later.
"It's hard to say," the captain replied. "But I don't think we're gaining much if any."