“Not if I know it!” he said emphatically to his companion. “What do you think, Rod?”
“I should say not! Why, we must be almost half-way back now. There would be no fun in it if we let some one else complete the job.”
“That’s just what I’m worrying about,” observed Jack. “We’re on the way, all right, and if nobody interrupts us we shall get there safely enough. But where is that tug? I can’t even hear her squeaking.”
“She must have left Rockmore long ago,” said Rod. “They’d have some difficulty in locating us while this haze keeps as bad as it is now, but they’ll find us, sure enough.”
“I wonder what will happen when the tug does bob up,” Jack said. “If it arrived just now I don’t think I’d have the cheek to refuse to give up the tow.”
“Why not?” So far as Rod could see they were doing perfectly satisfactorily.
“Well,” replied Jack with a laugh, “you’ve got to remember that we aren’t under steam-power, and they are, for one thing. Also, the tug is Barker’s boat, and perhaps—”
“Rubbish!” declared Rod. “If you take my advice you’ll hang on as long as the sloop holds together and as long as you’re doing what you contracted to do. Didn’t the captain say he was glad to have you give him a tow? And didn’t he agree that if you began to tow you could finish it?”