“So it was; and we needn’t say anything about the boat.”
“The steamer is going ahead,” said the carpenter.
“No matter for that, so long as the boys are all safe,” replied Peaks.
The people in the steamer seemed to take no notice of the first cutter, appearing not to understand that it had come out for the wrecked crew. But as the boat pulled towards her, she cast off the cutter in tow.
“Steamer, ahoy!” shouted Norwood, the second lieutenant, as he saw the cutter cast adrift.
She made no reply, but hoisted a flag, on which appeared the word “Post,” with something else which none in the first cutter could understand.
“She’s a mail boat,” said the boatswain; “and I suppose she intends to say she is in a hurry.”
“Does she mean to carry off the crew of that boat?” demanded the second lieutenant, not a little vexed at the conduct of the Norwegians.
“She will not carry them far,” suggested Dunlap, the coxswain.
“She may take them to Bergen.”