“There’d be no difficulty about that, Sir,” here remarked Boggle, “if we knowed her whereabouts; but a man as is blind can’t see, and nobody can point out a thing in the dark if they has no notion where it is.”
“You’re a conjuror,” replied Oriel.
“No, not quite so clever as that, Sir,” rejoined the man. “But I likes to have a notion o’ things in general, as every man as is a man, and thinks like a man, should.”
“Well, I wish, among your notions of things in general, you could find one that will lead us to the ship,” said master Porphyry. “I don’t like the idea of these poor fellows in their wet jackets passing the night here, nor have I any great desire for remaining here myself.”
“That’s not the worst we’ve got to expect, Sir,” said Hearty; “for if the ship holds on her course, when we can see our way in the mornin’, she’ll be far enough out o’ sight, and here we shall be—nearly thirty on us—crammed together in a open boat out at sea, where there’s no land within more nor five hundred miles on us; without never a compass, or a bit o’ biscuit, or a drop o’ water.”
“Surely, Captain Compass has forgotten we cannot find our way back without seeing the vessel,” said Oriel Porphyry, now beginning to feel some anxiety for the fate of himself and his associates. “But we cannot be much above a hundred yards from the ship. Shout as loud as you can, and that will put them in mind of our existence.”
“Ahoy!—Ahoy!—Ahoy!—Hoy!—Hoy! Oy!” Every one who was able shouted as loud as he could, and then waited in perfect silence for a reply.
“Yeho!—Yeho!—Yeho! Yho!—Ho!—O!” was replied by voices at a short distance.
“That’s some on ’em,” exclaimed Hearty, steering the boat towards the place from whence the sounds came.