“We’ll be in Sault Ste. Marie in about a half an hour.”
“What!” exclaimed Fred.
“That’s right, lad,” said the sailor.
“When did we pass Mackinac Island?”
“Mackinac Island! Why we left that a good many hours ago.”
“Why didn’t you stop and put us off?”
“We don’t make any stop anywhere. I guess the captain told you that we couldn’t stop there. That doesn’t make any difference, however, we’ll be in Sault Ste. Marie pretty soon and then you boys can stop all you want to.”
“How shall we get back to Mackinac?” inquired John.
“I can’t say,” laughed the sailor, who appeared to regard the plight of the boys more or less as a joke. “My suggestion would be to wait there and when one of the line boats come through go back on that. There will be one out somewhere about noon.”
“Probably that’s the best we can do,” said Fred meekly. “You say we’ll be there in about a half an hour?”