exclaimed. "Have you seen anything of the man who was
with me? There were two of us on board. If not, please look for him at
once."

"I am afraid it's no use," one of the men said, with a strong foreign
accent; "he has gone down and will never come up again. You come along
with me to the captain."

An uneasy feeling seized Ralph as he listened. He could see nothing,
for the lantern had been placed in a bucket the moment that he touched
the deck. At this moment a hail came from the stern of the vessel, and
Ralph's fears were at once realized, for it was in French. The reply
was in the same tongue, and he was led aft. "Take him down below,
Jacques, and let's see what he is like. We have suffered no damage, I
hope?"

"Not as far as I could see by the light of the lantern, but the
carpenter has gone below to see if she is making water."

The captain led the way down into the cabin. This was comfortably
furnished and lighted by a swinging lamp. "Do you come, down Jacques,
I shall want you to interpret."

The captain was surprised when he saw by the light of the lamp that
the person they had rescued was a lad, well dressed, and evidently
above the condition of fishermen.

"Now, young sir, who are you," he asked, "and what have you to say for
yourself?" The question was translated by Jacques.

"I like that," the lad said indignantly. "What have I to say for
myself! I think it's what have you to say for yourselves? We were
quietly fishing when you ran over us and sank the boat and drowned my
friend Joe, and haven't even stopped for a moment to see if you could
pick him up. I call it shameful and inhuman!"

The French captain laughed as Jacques translated the speech, the
purport of which he had, indeed, made out for himself, for although he
did not speak English he understood it to some extent.

"Tell him it was his fault as much as ours. We did not see him till we
struck him. And as for his companion, what chance was there of finding
him on such a dark night as this? Why, by the time we had hove round
and got back again we might not have hit it within a quarter of a
mile. Besides, if he had been alive he would have shouted."

Ralph saw, when he understood what the captain said, that there was
truth in his words, and that the chances of discovering Joe would
indeed have been slight even had the vessel headed round.

"May I ask," he said, "what ship this is, and what you are going to do
with me?"

"The ship is La