Again and again the boys shouted, but the ship sailed steadily on. Peter dashed the tears aside, and Tom said, with a quiver in his voice, "Never mind, Peter; better luck next time, old boy. God has been so good to us, that I feel quite confident we shall be saved." "So do I, Tom," Peter said. "It was only a disappointment for a minute. We may as well put the oar down, for my arm and back ache holding it." "Mind how you do it, Peter. If we let the end go through the canvas, we shall lose our watches and bugles, and then we shall not be able to fish." "Oh, Tom, the bugles!" "What, Peter?" Tom said, astonished. "We can make them hear, Tom, don't you see?" "Hurrah, Peter! so we can. What a fool I was to forget it!" In a moment the bugles rang out the assembly across the water. Again and again the sharp, clear sound rose on the quiet evening air. "Look, Peter, there are men going up the rigging to look round. Sound again!" Again and again they sounded the call, and then they saw the ship's head come round, and her bow put towards them, and then they fell on their knees and thanked God that they were saved. In ten minutes the ship was close to them, thrown up into the wind, a boat was lowered, and in another minute or two was alongside. "Hallo!" the officer in charge exclaimed, "two boys, all alone. Here, help them in, lads--that's it; now pull for the ship. Here, boys, take a little brandy from this flask. How long have you been on that raft?" "It is three days since we went overboard, sir; but we were in the water for about eighteen hours before we made the raft." Tom and Peter drank a little brandy, and felt better for it; but they were weaker than they thought, for they had to be helped up the side of the ship. A number of officers were grouped round the gangway, and the boys saw that they were on board a vessel of war. "Only these boys?" asked the captain in surprise of the officer who had brought them on board. "That is all, sir." "Doctor, you had better see to them," the captain said. "If they are strong enough to talk, after they have had some soup, let them come to my cabin; if not, let them turn in in the sick bay, and I will see them in the morning. One question though, boys. Are there any others about--any one for me to look for or pick up?" "No one else, sir," Tom said, and then followed the doctor aft. A basin of soup and a glass of sherry did wonders for the boys, and in an hour they proceeded to the captain's cabin, dressed in clothes which the doctor had borrowed from two of the midshipmen for them, for their own could never be worn again; indeed, they had not brought their jackets from the raft, those garments having shrunk so from the water, that the boys had not been able to put them on again, after first taking them off to dry. The doctor accompanied them, and in the captain's cabin they found the first lieutenant, who had been in charge of the boat which picked them up.