“O, of course you have; but of course, as you didn’t find her, you were not so babyish as to sit down and cry about it.”
“Certainly not; still we were very anxious to find her.”
“Mr. Peaks says you came down from Christiania before he did.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you were so anxious to find the ship, that you took a train to the interior of the country, expecting, no doubt, to come across her on some hill, or possibly on some of these inland lakes,” continued Mr. Blaine.
“We were looking for the ship’s company. We met Scott and Laybold, who were going into the interior, and we concluded to join them, as they wanted to find their shipmates,” replied Sanford, who was now not entirely confident that “the independent excursion without running away” was a success.
“Ah! so you have picked up those two young gentlemen, who ran away,” added the head steward, glancing at Scott and Laybold.
“Not exactly, sir; they picked us up,” answered the coxswain.
“I think it was a mutual picking up, and we picked each other up,” laughed Scott. “We knew that Sanford and his crew were extremely anxious to find the ship’s company, and if we joined them we should be sure to come out right.”
“Exactly so,” laughed Mr. Blaine. “Let me see; after our first day’s run on shore, by some mistake you neglected to come on board at night, with the others.”