, and then those on deck could
see for themselves what had attracted the lookout man's notice--a black
object, bobbing up and down amidst the waves, one minute raised aloft on
a billowy crest, the next hidden from view in a watery valley that
descended, as it were, into the depths of the ocean.

It was now clear to windward on the weather-bow; and, every now and
then, distinctly visible.

"Put the helm down, slack off the sheet!" cried the captain; and, as the
_Sea Rover_ rounded-to, with the floating object under her lee, it could
be seen that it was the boat which David and Jonathan had perceived
passing them, bottom upwards, just before they were struck by the
squall. The vessel, therefore, must have gone much further back on
their track than they had imagined, for the boat must have been three or
four miles astern of the point at which the boys were washed overboard.
She would of course have drifted farther than the floating wreckage,
being higher out of water, but could not have made up more than a mile
of the intervening distance.

It was a grievous disappointment to all on board, crew and passengers
alike. They had made certain that it was the two boys clinging to the
wreckage of the bulwarks and wheelhouse that had been carried away along
with Davy; and the disappointment was all the greater because their
hopes had been so cruelly raised.

"My boy, my boy!" sobbed Mr Liston, who stood with several of the other
cabin passengers grouped around the captain on the quarter-deck watching
in breathless suspense. "My boy, my boy! He is lost, he's lost! I
shall never see him again!" and he wrung his hands in agony.

Poor, bereaved father! He had only that moment been made aware that his
son was overboard, having been below when the accident happened to Davy,
and only attracted on deck by the commotion. Johnny was his only child,
his mother having died in giving him birth, and he was the apple of his
eye. He would have jumped into the sea, too, when, he learnt what had
happened, if he had not been prevented; and his grief was frantic.

"Cheer up, my dear sir!" said Captain Markham, as he gave orders for the
ship to back across her course at right angles, and warned the lookout
men aloft to renewed watchfulness. "We may pick them up yet. You know
Davy Armstrong was holding on to something when he was carried away, and
your gallant son took a life-buoy with him when he went to his rescue,
so they can keep af