Page:Dick Hamilton's Steam Yacht.djvu/163

Rh the others peered forward into the mist of rain with eager eyes, which, every now and then, were blinded by the salt spray.

They ate dinner in gloomy silence, occasionally some one making a remark about Tim's good qualities, and his jolly disposition.

"It makes me feel like turning back, and not making the trip," said Dick, "to have bad luck like this at the very start."

"It is too bad," agreed Beeby, "but maybe he'll be picked up by some other vessel, and saved. If he went overboard he might have grabbed something, and be floating. We could hardly see him in the rough water."

"Let's look on deck and see if any life buoys are missing, or anything else gone that he might have taken overboard with him," suggested Frank, and another hasty search was made. But it only increased the uneasy feeling, since none of the articles was missing, and gloom once more settled down.

The storm did not abate in violence all the rest of that day, and the boys sought their bunks with the yacht rolling and tossing on a heaving sea.

It was midnight, when the watch was changing, that Dick, who could not sleep, from thinking of Tim, heard voices in Captain Barton's room. One he recognized as that of the commander, and the other was Widdy's.

"I tell you I heard it, as plain as I'm hearin' you now," the old salt was saying. "I couldn't