At that moment, Roy Norton began to ring the fog bell under the captain's directions.
"Ding! Ding! Ding, ding, ding!" resounded the heavy iron tongue.
There was a pause, and then the signal was repeated. A longer silence followed and again the slow, clear signal was twice repeated.
By this time, the captain had guided his dauntless little vessel into slightly quieter waters, although she still pitched and tossed in a way that would have alarmed a "landlubber."
Then came a new sound, louder than the noise of the pounding waves, deeper than the clang of the iron bell.
"Boom! Boom! Boom, boom, boom!" An answering signal had broken the silence where the steady light shone.
Mark started, as though recognizing the sound.
"Why, that——-" he began bewilderedly, "that is the signal gun at
Red Key! Captain, are you signaling to my father?"
"Jest so," Captain Vinton replied. "Keeper Anderson knows my knock on his door!"
"How shall we land?" asked Chester excitedly, as he saw Dave making ready to drop anchor.