Both Merry and Hodge forgot their
discomfort, forgot their chilled and benumbed condition, and, lifting
themselves as high as they could, shouted for assistance.
There must have been some breeze in the dingy sails, for the vessel was
moving athwart the line of their progress, and they were being carried
along by the tide.
"Shout again!" said Merriwell, and again they lifted their voices
together.
In another direction a steamer could be seen, but those on the steamer
evidently did not see the sufferers on the raft.
"I don't believe there is a soul on the sloop!" Bart declared, in a
despairing way.
"Well, if she keeps on her course, we'll get so near that perhaps we can
swim to her and climb on board."
But Bart was wrong. Hardly had he made the declaration, when a man
appeared on deck, accompanied by a shaggy dog.
Merriwell and Hodge renewed their cries to attract his attention. But
the man gave them absolutely no heed. Once they fancied that the dog
turned his nose in their direction.
"He don't want to see us," Bart growled. "We are near enough for him to
hear! I----"
His sentence was interrupted by a young lady who rushed suddenly on deck
from the "cuddy" or cabin. A scream issued from her lips as she
appeared, and immediately a second man came into view, from whom she
seemed to be fleeing.
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