"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 passed 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 God 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 compass 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."