"Very good," replied Captain Stormleigh calmly. He was too much of a man to twit his employer with a galling "I told you so." "Get the whaler ready for lowering, Mr. Travers. You might pass the word for the cook to see that there's plenty of hot water under way."
At her utmost speed, which was a bare fourteen knots, the Polarity approached the derelict object. Even John Ranworth temporarily forgot his anxiety at the sight of the drifting box—for such it appeared to be—with its human freight.
Clang, clang! went the engine-room telegraph bell.
Before the way was off the ship, the whaler, with its crew and the second mate in charge, was lowered from the out-swung davits. Dexterously the falls were disengaged, and, bending to their oars, the rowers gave way with a will.
"My goodness!" ejaculated Ranworth, as the whaler returned with two additional and unconscious forms in her stern sheets. "They are two youngsters. Are they alive?"
"Yes, sir," replied Travers. "But another six hours or so would have settled them, I fancy."
"I'm glad you altered course, Captain Stormleigh," declared Ranworth frankly, as the unconscious lads were passed below. "The question is, what are we to do with them?"
"That's where you have me, sir," replied the captain, knitting his shaggy brows. "Of course, I wouldn't suggest putting back. When it's a case of fifteen men's lives against the personal comfort of a couple of youngsters, the youngsters don't count. If we fall in with a homeward-bound vessel engaged in the Norwegian or Baltic trade—and we're just in the track of the latter—well, then, it's an easy matter to tranship them. However, sir, time will tell. Meanwhile, we must get the lads back to life. They've had a terrible doing."
Having been relieved by McMurdo, Captain Stormleigh quitted the bridge, and, accompanied by Ranworth, went below to see how the two rescued youths were progressing. As they were discussing the mystery of their appearance, one of the lads opened his eyes and sat up, his forehead narrowly missing the deck-beam.
"Hullo! Where am I?" he asked wonderingly.