FUGITIVES.
It was possible to reach the water’s edge without passing the front
of the house, and Jake led the way at a rapid pace, old Chloe panting
and groaning in her efforts to walk as fast as the others; but growing
angry whenever a proposition was made to slacken the speed for her
benefit. Each one was loaded down with bundles, and in addition Gertie
carried the kitten; but all pressed forward so eagerly that in less
than ten minutes they were on board the new purchase. She was a trim
little craft of not more than five tons burden, but of such light
draught that it would be safe to cruise in her anywhere among the keys
which were situated on the shoals.
No fault could have been found with Jake’s hasty bargain. The boat was
sloop-rigged, with a large cockpit, and a tiny cuddy starting from just
abaft the mast, in which were four bunks. Judging from appearances she
was nearly new, for her sails and rigging were in the best possible
condition.
“A party of sportsmen from up North brought her down here for one
season’s huntin’ an’ fishin’,” Jake said as the fugitives stepped
aboard, “an’ I got her at a bargain. She’ll carry us anywhere, an’ I’d
rather trust her in a storm than that lumbering old lighter we towed
from Content Key.”
Ben was not a good judge of such property, but he thought they had
every reason to be satisfied with the purchase, more especially after
being told that the price paid was only an hundred dollars, and even
old Chloe appeared willing to trust her precious body on the little
craft.
As may be supposed, no time was wasted in conversation. Although it
seemed as if they had succeeded in giving Dr. Harlan the slip, it was
possible he would appear at any moment, and matters might be very
awkward for Captain Irwin if the quack should learn in which direction
the little party had gone.
While Jake gave the details of his business transactions, he and Ben
were loosing the canvas, and the story had hardly been told before the
sloop was gliding out of the harbor toward the north, under a breeze so
gentle that she sailed very nearly on an even keel.
Old Chloe, Gertie and the cat were in the cuddy, for if Dr. Harlan
should chance to come on the dock before the yacht was out of sight he
would hardly fail to understand the true state of the case on seeing
two females aboard.
“Now, where are we going?” Ben asked, after he had done his portion of
the work by trimming the canvas down, flat, for the wind was from the
west.
“At this rate of sailin’ we oughter be ten miles away in a couple of
hours, an’ we won’t think of stoppin’ till then. There are plenty of
keys ’round here to choose from, an’ we’ll take the smallest we can find
that has any trees on it, for we must have somethin’ in the way of
foliage to hide the tent.”
Then, as a means of driving away the fear which was imprinted so
plainly on Gertie’s pale face, Jake begun to talk of Dr. Harlan’s being
defeated in his appeal to the law as if it was already an assured fact,
and before the little craft was five miles from the shore those on
board had the appearance of pleasure-seekers rather than fugitives.
At the expiration of two hours the yacht was skirting along the side of
a small reef, not more than half the size of Content Key, on the north
of which grew a thick clump of mangroves.
“There’s where we’ll land,” Jake said as he shifted the helm in order
to run across the shoal water and gain the shelter of the trees.
“’Cordin to the looks of the place we might stay here a year without
bein’ found. Take the tiller, Ben, while I go forward to see how much
water we’ve got.”
The little craft was of such light draught that she run to the very
edge of the shore before grounding, and ten minutes later the party
were in the midst of the trees selecting a site for the camp.
This task was neither long nor difficult; the mangroves grew so closely
together that a shelter from the wind could be had anywhere in the
thicket, and the first clear space sufficiently large to admit of
spreading the canvas was the one selected.
Two small A tents, each about six feet square, had been purchased by
Jake, and he said as he unrolled them ready for setting up:
“I would have got a big one if I could a’ found it; but you see we
were kinder pressed for time, an’ it wasn’t safe to be too particular.
Anyway, Gertie an’ aunty will have a house to themselves, an’ there’ll
be plenty of breathin’ space by dividin’ the stores between the tents.”
Ben believed this arrangement was much better than if one heavy canvas
was to be shared by all. There would be less danger in case of a heavy
wind; the small camps could not be seen so readily from the water, and
they were thus saved the labor of trying to form two rooms from a large
interior.
He and Jake set about erecting the shelter even before unloading the
stores, and the tents were placed side by side in such a manner that by
raising the inside walls during the day the effect of a single camp was
obtained.
Aunt Chloe and Gertie, seated on the sand close at hand, watched
this portion of the work, and the cat scampered around the key as if
rejoiced at being once more where she had perfect freedom of action,
but running up to her young mistress from time to time to assure
herself that there was no possibility of being deserted.
The task of taking the stores on shore occupied but a few moments after
the tents were erected, and when this had been done Jake said in a tone
of satisfaction:
“I reckon we’ll be about as snug here as if we’d staid at Key West, an’
I ain’t sure but I’ll like it better. Aunt Chloe an’ Gertie can put
the house to rights, an’ after me an’ Ben have seen to the yacht a bit
we’ll bury the water breaker so’s to keep it somewhere near cool. Now,
lad, let’s see what can be done to hide our craft, for we don’t know
how soon that quack may take it in his head to look ’round the keys for
us.”
This was not an easy matter, for the sloop was much too heavy to be
hauled upon shore, and her mast could not be unstepped without taking
down all the standing rigging. After studying the question carefully
for some moments, and realizing that the little craft must of a
necessity remain in the water, Jake said with the air of a man who has
solved a difficult problem:
“We’ll anchor her close in shore, and then cover the spars and hull
with mangrove branches, so she’ll look like a tree when seen from a
distance. It isn’t likely Gertie’s step-father would take the trouble
of searchin’ every key, an’ if he doesn’t see anything suspicious there
won’t be much danger of his coming ashore.”
It was two hours before this work had been done to Jake’s entire
satisfaction, and then it would have required a very close scrutiny to
distinguish a boat in this seeming clump of bushes which was apparently
growing in the water about ten feet from the shore. It would be
necessary to move the little craft further out in case of a heavy sea,
but while there was no surf running she would be perfectly safe even
with her bow resting on the sand. The light kedge was used to moor her,
and Jake hove the cable taut, intending to let out more slack during
the evening.
To land after the task had been accomplished it was necessary to wade
a short distance; but that was of little consequence since the weather
was warm and the water very shoal.
Then the breaker, a small cask holding about five gallons, was buried
in the sand at such a depth that the wide bung was but just exposed,
and the laborers were quite ready for the cold meal old Chloe had
prepared.
“We’ll rig up some kind of a fire-place in the morning, an’ if we can’t
do much cookin’ on it you can at least have your tea,” Ben said as he
did full justice to the bread and butter, boiled ham and fruit.
“I ain’t gwine ter rouse any trubble,” Chloe said with the air of one
who fancies she is making a martyr of herself for others; “but I can’t
linger ’roun’ here berry long widout a little sometin’ hot.”
“You shall have it now,” Jake replied quickly, probably because he
also desired a warm drink, and before the mantle of night had covered
the key a steaming pot of tea was served by way of dessert to the cold
supper they had enjoyed.
All of the party were tired, for the excitement had wearied as much
as the labor, and when the meal was brought to a close every one felt
perfectly willing to retire. A lantern was hung in Gertie and Chloe’s
tent, the wall of canvas dropped, and without a thought of the yacht,
which was riding at a dangerously short cable, the ex-cook wrapped
himself in the blankets, fully prepared for a long night’s rest.
If Jake had been half as good a sailor as he claimed to be cook, his
first thought would have been to care for the safety of the boat; but
he was not, and with foliage enough on her spars to act as a reasonably
good-sized sail, the little craft swung to and fro under the influence
of the night wind, lifting the kedge with each undulation of the light
swell as she slipped inch by inch into deeper water.
The feeling of security which came upon the fugitives when they
succeeded in leaving Key West without being seen by Dr. Harlan,
increased decidedly after the tents were put up on the tiny key, and
served to make their slumbers all the more profound. When the sun
looked up over the sea at the low-lying reefs they were yet asleep, and
not until his rays had dissipated the dampness of the dew did either
awake.
It was old Chloe who first opened her eyes, and she performed her
toilet in the salt water without noticing that any of their belongings
were missing. Her only thought was to begin the duties of the day under
the mild exhilaration of her favorite beverage, and while building
a small fire near the canvas dwellings, Jake made his appearance,
yawning until it seemed as if his jaws would be dislocated.
“We had a pretty long watch below, eh, aunty? I feel as if I could go
back an’ take another twelve-hour snooze, but we’ll have all the sleep
we want before it’s time to make Key West agin. Halloo! What’s----”
He made no effort to finish the question, but stood staring out over
the sea as if he saw some terrible sight, and his loud exclamation
caused Ben to come from the tent very quickly.
“What’s the matter?” he asked nervously, alarmed by the expression on
the man’s face.
“The boat!” Jake cried, pointing to the shore where Ben had last seen
the sloop. “I forgot to give her more cable before I turned in, an’ she
has gone adrift!”
Ben gave one quick glance around, and as nothing met his eager gaze
but the placid sea and shimmering green of the foliage, he ran at full
speed toward the indentation of the beach which had served as harbor.
Here he gained an unobstructed view of the waters, on which, far away
to the eastward, could be seen a clump of green as if some of the
mangroves had left the reef on an independent cruise.
“There she is!” he cried as Jake and Chloe joined him, the latter
puffing and blowing like a miniature steam-engine. “I believe I can
swim that far, for the sea is as calm as a pond.”
“Don’t go to tryin’ anything so wild as that,” and Jake seized the boy
by the shoulder roughly to prevent him from taking off his clothes.
“There are plenty of sharks ’round here, an’ even if they could be
steered clear of, you’d never reach her.”
[Illustration: +Jake seized Ben by the shoulders to prevent him from
swimming for the boat.+]
“But we can’t let her drift away,” Ben cried, struggling to release
himself from the cook’s detaining grasp. “If she’s lost how can we get
to Key West? Nobody knows where we are, an’ it might be two or three
months before Captain Irwin could find us among all these reefs.”
“That’s true, lad, but however bad we’re fixed now, I ain’t goin’ to
let you make it worse by doin’ what’ll surely end in death. The sloop
is driftin’ further away every minute, an’ it would take a ten-mile
swim to catch her.”
“We can’t stand here an’ see her go without doin’ anything to prevent
it.”
“We’ve got to, lad. It’s my fault that she went adrift, an’ I’d take
pretty big chances for the sake of bringing her back, but babies
couldn’t be any more helpless than we are now. I oughter be thumped
black an’ blue, an’ then pickled for bein’ sich a fool. The idea of my
goin’ to sleep when I knew the cable was hove so short that any catspaw
of wind would send her adrift!”
It seemed as if Jake’s condemnation of himself caused Ben to fully
realize the situation, and he no longer made any attempt to swim after
the slowly receding craft. When his excitement subsided a little he
understood how futile would be such an effort, and said quietly as he
removed the cook’s hand from his shoulder:
“You needn’t be afraid of my tryin’ to swim, for it would be foolish.
Don’t blame yourself for what can’t be helped, an’ let’s go back to the
tent. Perhaps we can rig up some plan for gettin’ away from here when
we want to go.”
By this time Gertie had joined the party; but, much to Ben’s surprise,
she did not appear to consider the loss of the boat such a great
misfortune. Her one fear was that she might be again in Dr. Harlan’s
power, and any disaster would have seemed small by comparison.
“Captain Irwin will find us,” she said confidently. “We have got a
comfortable place in which to live, food enough for some time, and it’s
wicked to feel so badly about what can’t be helped.”
“Well,” Jake said with a long-drawn breath of astonishment, “if a child
like you can take things so easy, I reckon an old shell-back like me
ain’t got any call to kick up a row. We’ll get breakfast, an’ then
kinder take account of stock, for we’ve got to be mighty careful of the
provisions an’ water till we know how to get more.”
Then Ben remembered how small the cask was which they had buried in the
sand, and he knew the time must speedily come when there would be no
water to drink; but nothing could be gained by reminding his companions
of this unpleasant fact, therefore he followed the others back to the
tents in silence.