"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted some one on the shore.
"On the island!" replied Christy, as he was instructed to do by his superior.
"What steamer is that?" demanded the speaker on the island.
Whoever he was, he could not help knowing that a steamer was there, for the engineer had begun to blow off steam as soon as the screw stopped, though neither party could see the other in the fog and darkness.
"The Teaser," replied Christy. "Who are you?"
"We are the ship's company of the Teaser, and we want to get on board," replied the speaker. "Is Captain Folkner on board?"
"He is on board—of the Bellevite," the third lieutenant would have finished the sentence if he had told the whole truth, for he uttered only the first part of the sentence.
"All right. The first and second lieutenants are with us. Is Gilder on board?"
"He is; and he wants to get back to the other side of the inland," answered Christy, who considered it his duty to make his replies as suitable to the occasion as possible. "Who is speaking?"
"Lieutenant Lonley," replied the man; and Christy knew him, though he did not know his rank before. "He wants to see Gilder before he goes on board. Tell him to come on shore in his canoe."