Explore "Isles of the Sea" by Oliver Optic on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
On board of the Josephine and the Tritonia, the number sent away rendered it necessary to re-organize the watches. While the vice-principals were attending to this duty, the wind suddenly changed, so that the vessels could not lay their course; and it had headed them off till they were standing nearly to the southward. At the same time the fog shut out the Ville d'Angers from view. For a time after the course had been changed, the fog-signals of the steamer were heard; and then they ceased.
As the steamer was not disturbed by the change of wind, Mr. Fluxion feared she would run ahead of the little squadron, and lose sight of her associates. He directed the captain to tack after the Josephine had run some five miles to the southward, so as to keep somewhere on the track of the steamer. The fog was very deep and dense, and he wondered that the Ville had ceased to whistle. He was not prepared to believe that the captain of the steamer would wilfully run away from her consorts; and the situation puzzled him. The Tritonia was near enough to hear the signals of the other schooner; and there was little danger of losing sight of each other unless heavy weather came on, of which there were some indications.