“Do you think it is safe to get out a boat?” “I don’t think it is safe; and for that reason I shouldn’t lay her to.” “What would you do?” asked Capt. Wainwright, rather nettled by the disapproval of the boatswain. “I should run as near the wreck as possible, hail them, and say we will stand by them; then stand off and on till the weather moderates a little. A boat might live now; but the steamer floats, and don’t seem to be in any immediate danger of going down,” said Mr. Marline, when he had examined the condition of the wreck as well as he could in the fog. “I like that plan,” replied the captain; “but I thought we might be able to reach the wreck in a boat.” “If there was any need of it, we might,” added the boatswain, now getting a better view of the steamer. “She has a hole in her starboard bow; she has been run into by another vessel. I think the water poured into that hole in the beginning, flowed aft, and settled her down by the stern so as to lift the opening out of the water. That is what saved her. It was a miracle.” The Tritonia tacked again, and then stood under the stern of the wreck. Only one man, whose gray locks were streaming in the fresh wind, could be seen on board of her. “We will stand by you!” shouted Greenwood through the trumpet, as the Tritonia passed within a few fathoms of the steamer. “Two ladies on board!” yelled the man in response to the hail. “We will save them!” replied Greenwood. The Tritonia passed out of hailing distance. CHAPTER V. BOARDING THE WRECK. “There seems to be but one man on board the wreck,” said Wainwright, when the Tritonia had passed out of hailing distance. “And he says there are two women on board,” added Marline. “It seems to me that I have heard that man’s voice before.” “He speaks plain English, at any rate,” continued the captain. “Have you any idea what has become of the Josephine, Mr. Marline?” “It was easy enough to lose her in such a night as the last. She may have carried sail while we were laying to, or we may have carried sail while she was doing so. She may have been within a few miles of us when we changed our course to the nor’ard.” “But, if she had been anywhere near us, she would have heard the guns on this steamer,” suggested Wainwright. “I think we shall have a change of weather soon, and we shall find out where she is.” “The barometer is rising; and I am confident, if the Josephine’s people heard those guns, she will follow them up, and we shall see her in the course of the forenoon.” “No doubt of it,” replied Marline. “The fog is lifting now.” “The steamer seems to be in no danger of sinking,” added Wainwright, as he brought his glass to bear upon her. “Her stern is well down in the water, but her bow is clear up in the air.” “She won’t go down unless the weather gets worse. It is moderating very rapidly.”