“What was that?” said Tom Speers, suddenly looking to the northward.
“Well, what was it? I didn’t hear any thing,” replied O’Hara, gazing in the direction indicated.
“I don’t know what it was; but it sounded like a gun, or the stroke of a bell,” added Speers.
“Gun on the starboard quarter, the lookout forward reports,” said Raymond, hailing the captain from the main deck.
“All right: we heard it here,” replied O’Hara. “Is it a gun, or a bell? Report if you hear it again, Mr. Raymond.”
“If it was a bell, it may be the other vessels of the fleet. If it was a gun, it was not fired by the Josephine or the Tritonia, for the reason that neither of them has a gun to fire.”
“I hear it again; and I am sure it is a bell,” exclaimed Tom Speers.
“Whisht! Wait till you hear another; for the two schooners are together, and when one rings the other will, you may be sure,” added the captain, not a little excited.
But no other stroke of a bell was heard for a little time.
“I know the sound of the Tritonia’s bell; and it isn’t she,” said O’Hara. “It is a much heavier bell we hear.”