AN ILL-TIMED EXCURSION.
A long, dreary time of waiting was it for Ben as he crouched behind the
platform lest the doctor should see and order him away; but whenever
he was disposed to yield to the fatigue which prompted him to return
to the schooner, he glanced at the pale face of Gertie on which was
written deep sorrow and an almost overpowering weariness, and self was
forgotten for her who seemed so entirely alone.
During such times as the quack had sufficient customers to keep him
busy, Gertie and Ben could talk unrestrainedly; but whenever he had a
few leisure moments, or there was a demand for a song, Master Clark
deemed it best to remain out of sight, and thus he played a tedious
game of hide-and-seek from early morning until nearly nine o’clock in
the evening. The doctor had not thought it necessary that either his
assistant or himself should have anything to eat, and, as a matter of
course, no food had passed Ben’s lips since that which he had partaken
of so early in the day.
The public appeared to be more hungry for medicine after sunset than
before, and just when Ben was thinking it was nearly midnight, Dr.
Harlan said to Gertie:
“The schooner must have been hauled in at one of the piers by this
time. If you think you can find her you may go now, for I shall stay
here a good while longer.”
The child hesitated; much as she wanted to be on board the Sea Queen,
out of sight of the crowd and beyond the sound of her step-father’s
disagreeable voice, she did not dare attempt to make her way in the
dark through the streets of a strange town alone. For the moment she
had forgotten that Ben was close at hand, and he reminded her of this
fact by stepping boldly in front of the doctor, as he said:
“I’ll show her the way to the Sea Queen.”
The quack looked scrutinizingly at the boy as if questioning whether he
had ever seen him, and then suddenly remembering his face, replied:
“Oh, you belong on board the schooner. Very well, take the child with
you, and see that she has something to eat before going to bed.”
Ben did not wait for anything more; he felt that he would be perfectly
happy had he been large enough to read with impunity the doctor a
severe lesson, with his treatment of a step-daughter as the text; but
that being out of the question, he did the next best thing, which was
to hurry her away from the red-covered platform and the glare of the
gasoline lamps as quickly as possible.
Once on the ground he clasped Gertie tightly by the hand and started
at a rapid pace in the direction where he supposed the schooner to
be lying; but before the two had gotten beyond the reflection of the
medicine vender’s lights, they heard the familiar voice of Jake,
shouting:
“Hold on, my hearties, while I take you in tow,” and as the cook
approached he asked, “Where are you bound?”
“To the schooner. Gertie couldn’t get away before, and I stayed with
her.”
“You’ll never fetch the Sea Queen steerin’ that course. She’s lyin’
down here a bit, an’ I was afraid you’d start wrong, so I come up to
set you right. Where did you get dinner?”
“We didn’t have any,” Ben replied emphatically. “That doctor kept right
on sellin’ his stuff an’ wouldn’t stop for anything.”
“Hasn’t the little girl had a bite to eat since morning?” Jake asked in
astonishment, as he halted suddenly and faced the children.
“Not a mouthful, an’ she’s had to sing as many as twenty times.”
“Well,” and the cook spoke in a determined tone as he turned that the
walk might be continued, “if Captain Irwin don’t give that quack a
piece of his mind I will, an’ he’ll understand what I say for a fact.
But come on; don’t stay here when you must be pretty near starved to
death. The fire is still goin’ in the galley, an’ I’ll give you a good
square supper if it takes all the stores aboard the schooner.”
Since Jake was the only one who was retarding the progress of the
party, it was not difficult to carry his suggestion into effect, and
he was so eager to arrive at the vessel that he insisted, despite her
protestations, on taking Gertie in his arms, thus bringing the walk to
a more speedy conclusion.
It was not until after the children had partaken of what seemed to
be a veritable feast, even though it was served on deck just outside
the galley door, that any lengthy conversation was held, owing to the
fact that both had fallen asleep almost before Jake began his culinary
operations. The food drove the slumber from their eyelids for the time
being, and once this had been effected, Ben’s thoughts immediately
returned to his desire to aid Gertie.
“Supposin’ she an’ I should run away an’ hide, would Captain Irwin stop
here for us when he comes back from Mexico?”
“He couldn’t promise for sure,” Jake replied thoughtfully, “for you see
he might get a charter that would prevent him from comin’ near this
place, an’ then agin I don’t reckon he’d listen to anything of the
kind. The doctor wouldn’t be very likely to go on with us if the girl
was missin’, an’ if he stayed behind he’d be sure to find her, ’cause
this is nothin’ but a small island that could be hunted over from one
end to another in a little while.”
“I’d risk his gettin’ a sight of us if we was once clear of him.”
“What would you eat, or where could you sleep? I tell you, Ben, things
look kinder blue just now for the little girl, but she might be a good
deal worse off if she should try to run away. At all events she won’t
have to sing in this town any more, for when I told Captain Jack what
her step-father was doin’, he said he’d put a stop to some of it by
sailin’ to-morrow noon, though he hadn’t intended to leave till the
next day. I’ve been thinkin’ that when we get to Tampico we could go to
the American consul, an’ perhaps he would do somethin’ to help her out
of the scrape.”
“Do you suppose he would send me back to Mrs. Martin?” Gertie asked
eagerly.
“I reckon he might. Ben an’ I could tell him the whole story, an’ it
seems to me as if he would contrive to straighten things out. I’ve
known of worse cases that were fixed up in proper shape by these ’ere
consuls.”
At this suggestion of the cook’s, the first he had made regarding the
matter which appeared at all feasible, both the children immediately
became excited, despite their extreme weariness. Ben had a dozen
questions to ask regarding the possible or probable duties of a consul,
and although Jake had very little positive knowledge on the subject, he
answered each one promptly, concluding by saying:
“You can both make up your minds the whole thing will be fixed jest as
soon as I tell the story, an’ perhaps Gertie will be sent back on this
same schooner. Now that we’ve settled the matter, s’posen we all turn
in an’ bottle up a little sleep while that precious quack of ours is
humbuggin’ the natives.”
This was another good suggestion, and Gertie went into her state-room
as Ben started for the forecastle, both thinking that the cook of the
Sea Queen was a very learned and able adviser.
On the following morning Dr. Harlan was ready for breakfast at an
unusually early hour, and Ben was beginning to fear that Gertie would
be obliged to go on shore again, when Captain Irwin said curtly:
“You will have just time to get your traps on board before we are ready
to cast off once more.”
“But, my dear sir,” the doctor replied in a tone of such evident
disappointment that the cabin-boy could with difficulty repress the
most extravagant demonstrations of pleasure, “I understood you to say
that we would remain here several days.”
“I have changed my mind since yesterday afternoon,” the captain replied
stiffly. “We have got a good wind with which to get out of the harbor,
and I want to take advantage of it before twelve o’clock.”
The doctor did not reply, but displayed no small amount of ill-temper
by finding fault with everything brought him for breakfast, and by
sending back first one article of food and then another to have it
prepared differently, until Jake flatly declared that “he’d be boiled
before he would fool around with the quack any longer.”
Captain Irwin was obliged to do a great deal of work which would
otherwise have been unnecessary, in order to leave the port that day,
and the cheerfulness with which he set about it showed how eager he was
to save Gertie the humiliation of aiding in the patent-medicine sales.
During the forenoon the doctor brought his baggage onto the pier, and
very sulky and disagreeable did he look. He called gruffly to Jake,
ordering him to aid in taking the goods on board, and the cook quite
as gruffly replied that he “shipped to look out for the grub, not the
freight;” which made the medicine-vender so angry that he threatened to
flog the captain of the galley, but his ire apparently expended itself
in words.
It was nearly two o’clock before the Sea Queen left the wharf, with the
doctor confined to his state-room by a severe attack of the sulks, and
the cabin-boy so happy that he found it almost impossible to remain in
one spot more than two minutes at a time. Out the northwest channel,
which is directly opposite the one by which she entered the port, the
schooner sailed with a wind which came in fitful gusts, and before
midnight she was lying becalmed about five miles north of the Marquesas
Keys. So far as arriving at her destination was concerned it would have
been quite as well if she had remained at the pier in Key West, and Dr.
Harlan’s temper would have been in a much more satisfactory condition.
When the passengers came on deck the next morning, they found the Sea
Queen rocking lazily on the long swell of the ocean, her canvas hanging
idly to the spars, with not sufficient wind to lift the tiny thread of
blue which acted as a vane on the main topmast. Although the sun had
but just shown himself above the horizon, the air was so sultry as to
make even respiration seem difficult, and the glare from the water was
painfully dazzling. The awnings were spread over the quarter-deck, but
the shade thus afforded could not protect against the intense heat, and
from the captain to the cabin-boy every one felt thoroughly enervated.
As a matter of course, Jake was cooking breakfast, but he moved in a
listless manner, glancing from time to time at those who were lounging
aft as if reproaching them for being the cause of his standing over a
fire on such a morning.
Until four o’clock in the afternoon nothing could be seen on the glassy
surface of the water, and then Jake, who was smoking on the shady side
of the caboose, called Ben from the companion-way to look at a small,
round object floating about half a mile from the schooner.
“What is it?” the boy asked, feeling rather disappointed because that
which the cook pointed out was apparently so uninteresting.
“A turtle, an’ a good-sized one, too. He’s asleep, an’ it wouldn’t be a
hard job for any one as knows how to add him to the passenger list of
this ’ere schooner.”
Nothing more was required to plunge Ben into the highest state of
excitement. He was no longer conscious of the heat, so great was his
desire to catch a turtle, and as he ran toward the rail in order to get
a better view, he cried:
“Let’s try to get him, Jake. I can pull the small boat, and it wouldn’t
take two minutes to launch it.”
Jake looked around with the air of one who is willing to oblige a
friend in case it can be done without too much exertion, and then he
replied:
“If you’ll ask the captain to let us have the boat, I don’t know but
I’m willin’ to go, pervidin’ I can find my turtle-spear.”
Ben had no fear but that the weapon could readily be found, and in a
few seconds he had received the desired permission. The captain was
very fond of turtle-soup, and since it seemed probable that the Sea
Queen would remain where she was for some time, there was no reason why
the request should not be granted.
“What are you going to do?” Gertie asked as she saw the cabin-boy
bustling around much as if about to start on some important expedition.
“Out to get that fellow. Jake owns a spear, and I’m going to row the
boat while he catches him, same as if it was a whale.”
“I wish I could go.”
“Why can’t you? Ask the doctor an’ I’m sure he’ll let you.”
Singular as it may seem, the medicine-vender’s fit of the sulks had
been followed by something very nearly approaching an amiable frame of
mind, and after being assured by Captain Irwin that Gertie would be in
no danger, he readily gave permission for her to accompany the would-be
turtle-catchers.
One of the sailors aided Ben in launching the small boat, but declined
the invitation to join the party, giving as a reason that he “wasn’t
sich an ijut as to work a pair of oars when the weather was so hot,
jest on account of a sleepy turtle.” By the time the little craft was
in the water, Jake came on deck armed with his spear, to which was
attached a coil of stout cord.
The Sea Queen was loaded so deep that it was not a difficult matter to
get over the rail into the boat, and as the painter was cast off Jake
immediately assumed command by saying:
“Sit in the stern sheets, Gertie, an’ don’t so much as wink till we are
fast to that feller, then yell all you want to. Ben, you’re to pull on
to him, an’ remember that he’ll dive if you make the least little bit
of noise with the oars. I’ll stand chock up in the bows where I can
give you the course, an’ be ready to strike when we are near enough.”
There was no idea of disobeying orders. Gertie pushed herself far back
on the seat and gazed as intently at the turtle as did Jake, while Ben
tugged at the oars, directing the movements of the boat according to
the cook’s whispered commands.
The progress was not rapid, but it was silent, and in twenty minutes
Jake poised the spear for a cast. The turtle remained motionless upon
the water hardly more than five yards ahead.
[Illustration: +Ben held the oars while Jake poised the spear for a
cast.+]
Then the cook waved his hand for his crew to cease rowing, and Gertie
watched every movement as she literally held her breath in suspense.
During a moment as the boat glided slowly ahead the spear was held
aloft, then, after a quick backward motion, it was launched forward at
the full strength of the thrower’s arms, and in another instant the
splashing of the water told that the iron had struck its mark.
“Hurra!” Jake shouted excitedly, as the wounded turtle suddenly
disappeared, dragging after him the rope which the victorious cook
allowed to slip through his hands. “We’ve got him now, an’ I’d like to
see the man who says the thing could a-been done any better.”
“If the spear gets loose you’ll look in vain for him,” Ben cried, as
the rope was drawn taut and the boat began to glide swiftly through the
water, dragged by the captive faster than a man could have rowed.
“There’s no fear of that. The spear has a long barb which pulls out
sideways each end of the point, when it strikes, an’ that will hold
under the shell a good while longer than he can swim.”
The sport had now become too exciting to admit of any conversation. The
water foamed and boiled around the bow of the boat as she was drawn
along, and not one of the three paid any attention to the fact that
they were being carried swiftly away from the schooner.
After the first mad rush the turtle came to the surface, and Jake
coiled in the rope until the captive dashed off at full speed again,
when he was forced to pay it out or run the risk of being pulled
overboard. To relieve the strain on his arms he made the end of the
towing-line fast to the forward thwart, and on the boat sped as if
being propelled by steam. During more than an hour it was a series of
alternate onward rushes and halts, and then the novel steed so far gave
up the contest that it was possible to pull him in over the bow, all
hands being disposed to give him plenty of room because of his sharp,
parrot-like mouth, which opened and shut viciously.
“He ain’t so very large,” Jake said, as he seated himself on the
middle thwart, out of the reach of the snapping beak, and wiped the
perspiration from his face. “He’ll weigh more’n a hundred pounds,
though, an’ we’ve had as much fun as if he was twice as large. Now
we’ll be workin’ our way back to the schooner, for we must have a
decently long pull before us.”
As he spoke he gazed around the horizon in search of the Sea Queen,
suddenly uttering a low cry of alarm as he turned toward the stern of
the boat.
From the direction where he believed the schooner was lying, a huge
bank of fog which covered the water and obscured even the light of the
sun, was coming directly down upon them, and before either Gertie or
Ben realized the situation, the little craft and its occupants were
swallowed up by the cloud-like vapor.
They were in the open gulf without food, water, or means of guiding
their course, and unless the fog should disappear as rapidly as it had
come there was little possibility of ever seeing the Sea Queen again.