"There it is again, right astern!"

"Nonsense, boy!" said the captain;--"imagination. We should have heard it too. Pull, my lads, pull."

The men dragged at their oars, and Steve sank down in his place feeling abashed, but perfectly certain all the same that he had heard the whistle. At the end of a few minutes the captain said kindly:

"It's very easy to be deceived, my lad, and to fancy we hear that which we wish to hear. Johannes, come aft here, and cast off this little fish. We shall have enough to do without towing it."

"Cast it off, sir?" said the man as soon as he had pa.s.sed the rowers, and he opened his great knife slowly.

"Yes; it is too heavy to drag. Well, why do you hesitate?"

"I was thinking, sir."

"Well, think afterwards. Don't cut the rope; you can untie it."

"Yes, sir," said the man slowly; and in a voice which did not reach the others, "but had I not better tell you what I was thinking first?"

"Well, go on," said the captain shortly.

"We might want the whale--for food."

Captain Marsham gave quite a start, for there was so much meaning in those few words, suggestive as they were of their being starving in the open boat, and he sat there gazing full in the man's eyes.

"You think, then, that we may not find the ship?" he said in a whisper.

"The good G.o.d only knows," said the Norseman, taking off his cap. "We are in His hands; but it is our duty to provide for the worst."

"Yes," said the captain slowly, "you are quite right, my man; let the fish stay."

"There!" cried Steve, starting up again. "I'm sure I heard it then!"

"Steve!" cried the captain angrily, as he turned sharply on the boy.

"Yes, I heard it then," said Johannes slowly, as he held his hands behind his ears and leaned toward the stern.

"You heard it?"

"Yes; there again. Listen, captain."

"I hear nothing."

"No, it has stopped now."

Captain Marsham made an impatient gesture.

"There!" cried Steve excitedly.

"Yes, there!" said Johannes. "You heard it then, sir?"

"No," said the captain after a few moments' listening. "You must both be mistaken."

"No, sir," said the Norseman gravely, "I am not mistaken; that was a steamer's whistle."

"Then it cannot be ours."

"Perhaps not, sir; but it was a steamer's whistle, a signal, and it is dead astern. Shall we run back?"

"Yes; we must get on board something as soon as we can. This may be some whaler caught in the fog. Pull, my lads, and I will steer you round."

Captain Marsham looked down at the dimly seen compa.s.s on the thwart beside him, and gradually got the boat's head south-west.

At the end of half an hour's pulling the captain suddenly exclaimed:

"Yes, I heard it then! Did you?"

"I have heard it several times since we changed our course," said Johannes quietly.

"Indeed! and you, Steve?"

"Yes, sir, I've heard it, too."

"Then why didn't you speak?"

Steve was silent, and the captain listened again.

"Yes, that is a steamer's whistle undoubtedly, and perhaps not very distant."

"She can't be very far away, sir. If she were, we could not have heard her at all."

The men were cheery now, and pulled with a steady stroke, making but little way on account of the heavy load they were towing; but the fact of their hearing the vessel, of which there was no doubt now, inspirited them.

"Stop!" said the captain suddenly. "Now, Steve, hail!"

As the boy sent forth as loud an ahoy as his lungs would allow there was a dull, smothered wail off astern, very near at hand, evidently, one moment, and the next sounding distant and far away.

"Hail again!" cried the captain; and this time Johannes gave forth one of his hoa.r.s.e, deep roars, the sound seeming to return upon them, but there was no reply.

"Hail again, Steve," and the boy shouted; but still without result.

Then Johannes sent forth another of his sonorous roars, and all laid on their oars and listened, when, so softly as to be almost imperceptible as the men held their breath, there came a low hail, which grew fainter and fainter and then died away.

"That was the _Hvalross_, I'm sure!" cried Steve excitedly, as the boat's course was altered once more.

"Yes; and she's hanging about to find us," said the captain. "Cheer up, my lads. She won't go far without trying back; she can't be far away."

The men tugged at their oars, but there was no answering cheer; even the great Norseman was silent, while, as Steve settled down in his place once more, he felt as if they were to be left to take their chance on the outskirts of the region of ice, for, after signalling till they were weary, the _Hvalross_ must be steaming right away.