“She ain’t coming out to tow us in, sir,” said the sailor, “’cause she knows that we don’t want help with such a breeze as this. I shouldn’t wonder if your friends were aboard of her, sir.”
After hearing this, Frank began to take some interest in the movements of the tug. He kept his glass directed toward her, and presently discovered a group of persons standing on her hurricane-deck. A quarter of an hour later he could see that they were signalling to him with their handkerchiefs; and finally the two vessels approached so near to each other that he could see the faces of those composing the group. Then he recognized Uncle Dick, his friend Mr. Wilbur, the two trappers, and the Club. They had probably learned from the captain of the steamer that the Stranger was safe and approaching Hobart Town as swiftly as the breeze could drive her, but they were so impatient to see her and their missing companions once more that they could not wait until she arrived in port, and so had chartered a tug and started out to meet her. Frank and Archie were delighted at the prospect of the reunion which was soon to take place, but the three sailors looked rather gloomy over it. They could not bear to meet the captain they had wronged.
As soon as the tug arrived abreast of the vessel she began to round to, and Frank threw the Stranger up into the wind to wait for her to come alongside. When her bow touched the schooner, the delighted members of the Club scrambled over the rail like so many young pirates, and greeted the cousins in the most boisterous manner. The older members of the party followed more leisurely and were not quite so demonstrative, although it was plain that they were quite as glad to see Frank and Archie once more as the Club were.
In obedience to a sign from Uncle Dick the tug steamed off toward Hobart Town, the Stranger filled away on her course, and then the party went into the cabin to talk over the events of the last few days. Frank first told the story of the seizure of the schooner, as he had heard it from the lips of the convict, and described how they had recovered possession of her, giving Archie all the credit for the exploit, as he was in duty bound to do. He laid a good deal of stress on the services rendered by the Doctor, and said all he could in praise of the three foremast hands; but when he proposed that they should be retained as if nothing had happened, Uncle Dick shook his head.