CHAPTER II.
GOING BACK WITH THE PILOT.
We were pretty near the Narrows when I thought it was about time to let the captain, or one of the officers, know that there were some people on board who didn't intend to take the whole trip.

I had read in the newspapers that committees and friends who went part way with distinguished people generally left them in the lower bay.
But I was saved the trouble of looking for an officer, for one of them, the purser, came along, collecting tickets.

I didn't give him a chance to ask Scott or any of the other fellows for something that they didn't have, but went right up to him and told him how the matter stood.
"I must see the captain about this," he said, and off he went.
"He didn't look very friendly," said Scott, and I had to admit that he didn't.
In a few moments the captain came walking rapidly up to us.

He was a tall man, dressed in blue, with side-whiskers, and an oil-cloth cap.
The purser came up behind him.
"What's all this ?" said the captain.

"Are you not passengers, you boys ?" He did not look very friendly, either, as he asked this question.
[Illustration: THE VESSEL IS OFF.] "Two of us are," I said, "but four of us were carried off accidentally." "Accident?
Fiddlesticks!" exclaimed the captain.