"I'm not surprised," rejoined the second mate with a breezy laugh. "Considering I hauled you into the boat, and you were both as limp as that coil of rope, it's not to be wondered it."
"Then we've to thank you for saving our lives?"
"No thanks required," declared Travers, shrugging his broad shoulders. "It's a case of duty; that's what I'm on board for."
"A jolly fine ship," observed Leslie, as he took a survey of the crowded deck. "I wish I were off to the Arctic in her."
"You stand a jolly good chance, anyway," announced the second mate. "We are now out of the regular steamer tracks, and we are not putting into any Norwegian ports, so it seems a case of have-to."
CHAPTER IV
ON BOARD THE "POLARITY"
HOURLY Leslie Ward's and Guy Anderson's chances of being sent back diminished. The Polarity, forging steadily ahead on a northerly course, never sighted a single sail until in the latitude of Bergen, when she fell in with a Norwegian timber ship, homeward bound.
"There's a chance for you fellows," announced Ranworth, as the two vessels exchanged the customary greetings of the sea. "They'll take you into Bergen, and there you'll be pretty certain to find a British vessel bound for Hull or Grimsby."