One night as the vessel was nearing the Mediterranean, Don found it impossible to sleep. His mind was full of thoughts of his parents, joyous when he thought of the coming reunion with his dear mother, sad when he dwelt on the plight of his equally dear father.
What had become of the latter? Was he wandering about aimlessly in the foreign land, exposed perhaps to hunger and thirst, to poverty and hardship? Perhaps at that moment he was dead! At the thought Don’s heart was wrung with anguish. Or perhaps—and the thought was equally terrible—his mind, that splendid scientific mind, was gone forever.
Tortured by these possibilities, Don at last rose, slipped on some clothes, and went out on the deck.
It was about two o’clock in the morning, and there was no one in sight except occasional members of the crew intent on some duty and shadowy figures of officers making their round of the ship.
The vessel was passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, and Don sat down in a chair near the stern, trying to divert his somber thoughts by gazing at the formidable frowning Rock that stood as the symbol of Great Britain’s power in the Mediterranean.
A slight splash in the water attracted his attention. He turned his eyes in the direction of the sound, but could see nothing.
Then came a second splash, and with his eyes somewhat adjusted to the darkness, he could faintly detect a human head above the surface of the water. Almost instantly the head was lost in the gloom, but a faint trail of foam traced the course of a man swimming toward the shore.
At first Don jumped to the conclusion that a man had fallen overboard. But with the second splash he came to the conclusion that two were hardly likely to have fallen over so nearly at the same time. Besides, there was no call for help. And instead of swimming toward the ship, one, at least, was certainly making for the shore, which at that place was not more than a quarter of a mile distant, and probably the other man was following his example.
Just as Don was wondering what he ought to do, Mr. Maitland, who happened to be on watch, came along. He peered at Don and recognized him.
“Keeping pretty late hours, aren’t you?” he asked, with a smile. “What’s the matter? Too hot to sleep?”