“Oh, come down,” laughed Dave.
“Well, look and see.”
As the boys joined Aleck outside, each uttered an exclamation.
“If this fog were any thicker, it would be solid,” said Jack, solemnly.
CHAPTER VIII
A COLLISION
It did seem indeed as though the house-boat were suspended in space. The lanterns threw a strange, weird light on the swirling mist which swept slowly by. The unseen water lapped and gurgled against the sides of the “Gray Gull.”
Far out, the long, hoarse blast of a fog-horn told of a passing boat groping its way along; then came a response, fainter, like an echo from the distance. The damp air brought with it other sounds, too; the sharp, imperious whistle of a tug nearer at hand, and the steady, rhythmic clanking of its machinery.
A strange sensation as of drifting came over the boys, and but for the fact that Jack tested the anchor, all would have believed they were floating further out on the river.
When Aleck Hunt appeared with a lantern, a chorus of oh’s and ah’s escaped their lips.