AGROUND.
As may be imagined, Jim felt very wide awake when he staggered to his
feet, after being thrown so violently against Walter that both rolled to
the floor, and his first thought was that all the trouble had originated
in the engine-room.
The escaping steam enveloped both brig and tug in a fog-like vapor so
dense as to be almost stifling, and for several moments it was
impossible to distinguish objects a dozen feet distant.
That the old sailor had gained the Bonita's deck with wonderful celerity
could be told from the shouts of inquiry which he uttered in rapid
succession; and before the first bewilderment, caused by the shock, had
passed away, Jim was outside the pilot-house trying to answer the
questions.
"Steamer ahoy! What's the matter?" Bob shouted.
"I don't know; but it seems as if the tug has exploded somewhere!"
"That can't be if she's still afloat," Bob cried testily, and from the
sound of his voice Jim knew he was making his way toward the rail.
"I must have fallen asleep for a second, an' was awakened by bein'
knocked down," Jim said penitently.
At that instant a dark figure could be seen coming from the engine-room,
and a faint voice cried:
"One of the boiler-tubes blew out when we struck the rock. Somebody must
help draw the fires, for I'm burned pretty bad about the arms and face."
"Struck a rock?" Bob shouted fiercely, as he made his way toward Joe,
who had retreated aft to free his lungs of the deadly vapor. "Are we
aground, Jim?"
"Not that I know of," the young fisherman replied in a tone of
bewilderment. "My eyes couldn't have been shut more'n a minute; an'
there was nothin' in sight when I closed 'em."
"Get out the lead-line while I see if Joe is hurt very much."
The steam was yet pouring from the engine-room in such volumes as to
prevent a view from either side, and Jim groped his way to the brig,
Walter following close at his heels like one dazed. Master Libby
remembered having seen the lead-line under the port rail forward, and
but a short search was necessary to find it. Fully expecting they were
yet in deep water, he reeled off twenty fathoms or more before casting,
and to his surprise the greater portion remained on the rail instead of
slipping through his fingers.
"Why, we're--we're on a shoal!" he stammered as he pulled in the cord
until the weight could be felt. "There isn't much more than two fathoms
out."
"An' as the brig don't draw less'n fourteen or fifteen feet, we can
count on your havin' slept pretty nigh through the whole watch!" Bob
said sharply.
Jim made no reply. He realized now that his eyes must have been closed
many minutes instead of one, and was well aware that all which had
happened was the result of his own carelessness.
"I'm in for it now," he whispered disconsolately to Walter. "Even if Bob
don't use up a rope's end on my back I'll know that by goin' to sleep
I've shut off our chances of gettin' home."
"I must be just as much to blame as you," Walter replied, in a trembling
voice. "My business was to stand watch, and the very first thing I did
was to go to sleep."
"But I had the helm, you see, an' oughter kept the sharpest lookout. I
wish Bob would turn to an' give me the worst whalin' I ever got, 'cause
it seems as if it might make me feel better."
"Can't we get the brig off somehow?" Walter asked with a sob.
"Seein's how the crew's so slim it don't seem very likely, an' everybody
will say I cast 'em away when we was sure of gettin' home."
"They'll have to say the same of me," Walter added, as if this thought
might give his companion some consolation. "Let's go an' have it out
right away."
With clasped hands the two boys walked aft, fully expecting to receive a
terrible punishment for their almost criminal carelessness; but no
blows, however severe, could have caused as much pain as was already in
their hearts.
Time was too precious just then for the old sailor to spend any with the
authors of this last trouble, even had he been so disposed. Matters in
the engine-room required immediate attention, and Joe was ready to
venture amid the scalding vapor once more; therefore he followed, to
render all possible assistance.
"Bend your head low, and keep this bit of waste over your mouth," the
engineer said, thrusting a roll of cotton-threads in the sailor's hand
as he went below.
The engine-room was filled with steam, to breathe which would be severe
agony, if not death; but neither of the brave fellows faltered. By
keeping their faces covered as much as possible they were able to
continue on, groping their way amid what would have seemed like a dense
fog but for the intense heat, while the roaring of steam as it escaped
gave warning of further disaster if precautionary measures were much
longer delayed.
Bob was unfamiliar with the interior of the tug; therefore it was
necessary the engineer should lead the way, and after no slight trouble
they succeeded in reaching the boiler from which the vapor was pouring
in clouds.
The most important work was to draw the fires, and by following Joe's
example Bob so far aided in this that five minutes later the glowing
coals were in the ash-pan or strewn on the cement flooring immediately
in front of the furnace door.
Short though this time was, it seemed very long in such a place, and ten
seconds after the task had been accomplished the two were leaning over
the rail aft, drinking in long draughts of pure, cool air.
When they had recovered from the effects of the heat sufficiently to pay
attention to their surroundings, it was possible to see where Jim's
carelessness had brought the brig and tug. The steam had thinned down
until it hardly obstructed their view, and at the same time day had been
approaching so rapidly that near-by objects could be plainly
distinguished.
The brig was on a level keel in the cove of a small island, or key, the
low-lying land, which was covered with luxuriant vegetation, hardly more
than three hundred yards distant in either direction. Had Jim tried to
steer her into this sheltered spot he could not have done it more
exactly; and the fact that she would lie there without thumping, except
when the wind blew from the east, was the only bit of comfort Bob could
extract from the situation.
The boys were on the Bonita's forecastle silently gazing at the odd
foliage everywhere around, while Joe and the old sailor stood on the
after deck of the tug, the latter saying, as he concluded a long survey
of the scene:
"It might be worse, for a fact; but I reckon both crafts will be tied up
here till we're sick of lookin' at mangrove trees."
"Where do you suppose we are?" Joe asked.
"This must be some part of the Bahamas. Look at the keys all around.
There is but one other place anywhere near the spot we oughter be which
shows up like it, an' that is the Florida reefs. We couldn't a' made
them without sightin' Cuba or the Bahamas, consequently we must be
further to the nor'ard."
"Should we be near any seaport?"
"Nassau is somewhere about; but it may be two or three hundred miles
away, an' seein's how I can't take an observation, we wouldn't know
whether it was north or south. Did you get burned very bad?"
"I thought so at first," Joe replied with a laugh; "but I guess it's
only skin deep--more painful than serious."
"You got out of it luckily; how can the engine be patched up again?"
"If no more damage has been done than the blowing out of a tube I will
soon have it in working order."
"We'll get something to eat, and then see what's to be done. Jim!" he
added, raising his voice, "cook the best breakfast you know how, to make
up for this mess you've brought us into."
Master Libby, who had been expecting a sound rating at the very least,
because of his carelessness, was so thoroughly surprised at the friendly
tone that he lost no time in obeying this order, and, as a partial
atonement for his misdeeds, prepared a meal which in quantity and
variety would have been sufficient for twenty hungry men.
The sorrow which all hands felt because of the disaster did not prevent
them from doing full justice to the unskillfully prepared food, and the
table had been relieved of a large portion of its burden before any
attempt at conversation was made.
"While you're seein' how much damage has been done to the tug, me an'
the boys will get an anchor out aft so's the brig can't work further
inshore." Bob said to the engineer. "If you can get up steam, an' the
tug's afloat, it oughtn't take very long to pull us off this sand-bank."
"So far as I know it's only a case of blowing out one of the tubes," Joe
replied.
"Can it be fixed without much work?"
"Yes, by driving in a piece of soft wood to hold the steam; but of
course it'll make no end of bother until it is repaired properly. For a
job like pulling the Bonita off the mud a plug will be as serviceable as
a new tube, which can't be had until we reach some port."
"Then you're to find out exactly what's needed, an' after the brig is in
deep water agin we can lay here a day or two to get things ship-shape.
Perhaps some craft will come in sight, an' we'll be able to find out
just where we are."
"I'll let you know----"
Joe stopped speaking suddenly as what sounded very like a human voice
rang out on the still air, and in obedience to his gesture all listened
intently until it was repeated.
"Brig ahoy! ahoy!"
Bob actually looked alarmed. He had believed the key to be uninhabited,
and, knowing there was no craft in sight when they came below, all his
superstitious fears were aroused by the cry. Just for an instant he
hesitated, as if not daring to go on deck, and then ran up the
companion-ladder, closely followed by the remainder of the party.
Surely there was nothing in that which met their gaze to cause alarm. On
the shore stood three men, and when the old sailor made his appearance
one of them repeated the hail.
"Ahoy on shore," he replied.
"Send a boat, will you? Our craft went away leaving us here, and we've
been cooped up on this island nearly a week."
"It won't do much good for us to take you aboard. We're hard and fast
aground."
"Somethin' to eat is what we're wantin' pretty bad," the man on shore
cried; and Bob said, as he turned to Joe:
"I reckon we oughter go after 'em; but somehow I don't jes' believe his
yarn."
"Why not?"
"'Cause there's no reason why an honest vessel would stop here long
enough for her crew to go ashore; an' then, agin, they haven't got a
sailor cut about 'em."
Having thus given words to his suspicions, Bob set about lowering the
Trade Wind's yawl with as much alacrity as if some one in sore distress
stood in need of their services, and five minutes later he and Joe were
rowing ashore.
The strangers stepped into the boat the instant her bow grated on the
sand with the air of persons who are conferring rather than receiving a
favor, and making no attempt to push the craft into deep water.
"It's a sailor's rule for the last aboard to shove off," Bob said with
just a shade of anger in his tone, and the man in the bow leaped ashore
to perform that duty, after which the yawl was pulled toward the brig.
The three boys were standing at the rail forward watching all which
occurred, but saying nothing until the boat was near enough to admit of
their seeing the strangers clearly. Then Jim whispered:
"That's what I call a mighty hard-lookin' crowd, an' I don't wonder Bob
says they haven't got the sailor cut. I wouldn't like to meet either one
of 'em alone in the dark."
Two of the three strangers appeared to be Americans, but of a
disagreeable type, while the third was unmistakably a Mexican; and it
was this last upon whom Jim looked with the most suspicion.
There was no further opportunity for him to criticise them, however,
since the boat was rapidly approaching the brig, and Bob had already
shouted:
"Heave that gangway-ladder over, an' then set about gettin' up another
breakfast."
The first order was quickly obeyed, and Jim went into the galley to
comply with the second as the new-comers stepped on board and halted
near the mainmast to gaze curiously around, as if taking a mental
inventory of the brig's general condition.