"I did; but it was not the loss of the captain."
"Who was it?" asked Mr. Lowington, catching his breath, in the heaviness of his anxiety.
"I really don't understand you, sir," said the learned gentleman, astonished and confounded by what he regarded as the singular conduct of the principal.
"Has any one been lost overboard from the Josephine?" demanded Mr. Lowington, in a loud tone, for he was impatient under the shuffling manner of the professor.
"No, sir; no one, that I am aware of."
"That you are aware of!" exclaimed Mr. Lowington, sternly.
"Of course, if any one had been lost, I should have heard of it," answered Mr. Hamblin, who did not quite like the tone of the principal.
"Then the officers and crew are all safe—are they?"
"They are, sir—all safe."
"Thank God!" ejaculated Mr. Lowington, heartily, an awfully heavy load removed from his mind.