THE QUEST OF THE SALVADOR
On the roomy forward deck of the _Salvador_ an earnest conference was
held.
"How fast are we going?" asked Steve.
"The captain says about fifteen miles an hour. That's our best clip, it
seems," replied Madeline.
"And very good speed," added Captain Krell, proudly.
"So it is, for an English yacht," agreed Mr. Cumberford.
"In that case," said Steve, "we are moving one-third as fast as the
Aircraft did, and we were about two hours later in starting. Provided
the girls exhaust their gasoline in flying, they will make a hundred
and fifty to two hundred miles, requiring five or six hours' time.
Then they will alight, bobbing upon the water and helpless to move in
any direction except where the current carries them. It will take us
eighteen hours to reach that same spot, and we will therefore be twelve
hours behind them. Do you all follow me?"
They nodded, listening intently.
"Now, the girls left at about one thirty this afternoon. If my
calculations are correct, they'll take to the water anywhere from six
thirty to seven thirty this evening. We shall overtake them at about
the same hour to-morrow morning. Unless they drift considerably out
of their course we shall see the white planes at daybreak and have
no trouble in running alongside. But there's always the chance that
through some cause they may manage to drop to water sooner, and perhaps
run the boat toward home. Orissa is a very clever girl, as you all
know; calm and resourceful; quick-witted and brave. She will do all
that anyone could do to bring the Aircraft under control. So the one
danger, it appears to me, is that we may pass them during the night."
"That danger, sir," said Captain Krell, "may be reduced to a minimum.
We carry a very powerful searchlight, which shall be worked by my men
all night, illuminating not only the course ahead, but the sea for
miles on every side. As you say, Mr. Kane, the white planes may be
easily seen against the blue water, and we positively cannot miss them
during the night."
"You--er--interest me," said Mr. Cumberford, looking more cheerful.
"We seem to have everything in our favor, thanks to Miss Dentry's
generosity."
"I'm _so_ glad I bought this yacht!" exclaimed Madeline, fervently,
"for it enabled me to go to the assistance of those poor girls. I'm
sure it was all providential."
"Let us hope," said Mr. Tupper pompously, "the young women will survive
until we reach them. However, we shall learn their fate, in any event,
which will afford us a certain degree of satisfaction."
That speech was like a douche of cold water, but although the gentleman
received various indignant and reproachful looks he had "sized up the
situation" with fair accuracy.
Mr. Cumberford, however, since those first despairing moments on the
aviation field, had recovered command of his feelings and seemed
hopeful, if not confident, of his daughter's ultimate escape from
serious mishap. He was exceedingly fond of Orissa, too, and even had
not Sybil been with her it is certain that he would have been much
worried and eager to go to her assistance.
Stephen Kane, on the contrary, grew more nervous as time passed. Better
than the others he knew the dangers that threatened the girls if, as
he suspected, the steering gear had broken and the elevator and engine
control been rendered useless. He racked his brain to think what could
have caused the trouble, but never a hint of the truth dawned upon him.
The third member of the Kane-Cumberford party, Mr. H. Chesterton
Radley-Todd, had maintained a discreet silence ever since Miss Dentry
had invited him to join the rescue party. This she had been led to
do by the look of abject misery on the boy's face, and he had merely
pressed her hand to indicate his thanks. Chesty Todd was never much
of a conversationalist and his appreciation of his own awkwardness
rendered him diffident unless occasion demanded prompt and aggressive
action, when he usually came to the front in an efficient if unexpected
manner.
Madeline Dentry, seeing Chesty Todd merely as he appeared, wondered in
a casual way why such a blundering, incompetent booby had been employed
by the Kane-Cumberford firm, but as the big boy was a part of the
"camp" and was so evidently disturbed by the accident, she was glad to
relieve him to the extent of adding him to the party.
Very soon after the _Salvador_ started, however, nearly every one on
board began to feel the presence of the youthful press agent. It was
Chesty Todd who discovered the searchlight aboard and long before the
conference on the deck he had primed the captain to use it during the
coming night. It was Chesty Todd who sat on a coal-bunker in the hold,
swinging his long legs and inspiring the engineer, by dark insinuations
concerning the _Salvador's_ ability to speed, to give her engines every
pound of steam she could carry. It was Chesty who pumped the steward
to learn how well the boat was provisioned and supplied the deck hands
with choice cigars until they were ready to swear he was a trump and
imagined him quite the most important personage aboard, after Miss
Dentry.
The chef served an excellent dinner in the cabin, to which no one did
full justice except Mr. Tupper. All were loth to leave the deck long
enough to eat, although they knew a watch was stationed in the "crow's
nest" with powerful glasses. When night fell the searchlight came into
play and the entire party sat huddled forward, eagerly following the
sweep of light across the waters. It was ten o'clock when Mr. and Mrs.
Tupper retired, and midnight when Madeline went to her room, leaving
orders to call her if the Aircraft was sighted.
Stephen Kane, Mr. Cumberford and Chesty Todd sat by the rail all night,
wide-eyed and alert. Once the searchlight caught the sails of a ship
and they all leaped up, thinking it was the Aircraft. Again, something
dark--a tangled mass of wreckage--swept by them and set their hearts
throbbing until they held the light steadily upon it and discovered
it to be a jumble of kelp and driftwood. Daylight came and found them
wan but still wakeful, for now they were getting close to the limit of
flight possible to the Aircraft.
Captain Krell was a skillful navigator and, having taken his course in
a direct line from Sealskin Island, following the flight of Orissa's
Hydro-Aircraft, had not swerved a hair's breadth from it the entire
voyage.
"You see," said Steve, peering ahead in the strengthening daylight,
"the _Salvador_ hasn't dodged a bit, and the Aircraft couldn't. So
we're bound to strike our quarry soon."
"Wind," suggested Chesty.
"Yes; the wind might carry them a little out of their course, to be
sure," admitted Steve; "but I think--I hope--not far enough to escape
our range of vision."
At about seven o'clock, at Chesty Todd's suggestion, the engines
were slowed down somewhat, that the lookout aloft might have better
opportunity to examine the sea on all sides of the ship. The yacht
still maintained fair speed, however, and the call to breakfast finding
no one willing to respond, Madeline ordered coffee and rolls served on
deck, where they could all watch while refreshing themselves.
"What's your run, Captain?" asked Steve, nervously.
"Hundred and forty miles, sir."
"Indeed! Go a little slower, please."
The captain rang the bell to slow down. Presently the _Salvador_ was
creeping along at the rate of ten miles an hour.
"The gasoline," said Steve, "may have carried them farther than I
figured on. It's a new machine and I haven't had a chance to test the
exact capacity of the tanks."
The moments dragged tediously. Every person aboard was laboring under
tense excitement.
"What's the run, Captain?"
"One fifty-two, sir."
"Ah."
Nothing was in sight; only an uninterrupted stretch of blue sea. Hour
after hour passed. At noon the run was two hundred and twenty miles
and the aëroplane had not been sighted. Steve turned and faced those
assembled.
"It's no use going farther in this direction," he said, the words
trembling on his lips. "I'm very sure they couldn't have made this
distance."
"Evidently their course has been altered by the wind," added Mr.
Cumberford.
"Gusty, at times, last night," asserted Chesty.
Steve nodded.
"A strong wind might do what the girls couldn't," said he. "That is, it
might alter the direction of their flight. How did it blow?"
"At four o'clock, from the north; at five fifteen, from the west; at
six, due south," said Chesty.
There was silence for a few minutes. The engines had been shut down and
the boat lay drifting upon the water.
"I think it will be well to examine the charts," suggested Mr. Todd,
"and find out where we are."
"I know where we are," said Captain Krell. "Wait a moment; I'll get the
chart, so you may all study it."
He brought it from his cabin and spread it upon a folding table on the
deck. A penciled line ran directly from the port of San Diego to a
point south by southwest.
"A few more hours on the same course and we'd sight the little island
of Guadaloup, off the Mexican coast," explained Captain Krell. "But the
aëroplane couldn't go so far; therefore we must search on either side
the course we've come."
They all bent their heads over the map.
"What are those unmarked dots which are scattered around?" inquired Mr.
Cumberford.
"Islands, sir. Mostly bits of rock jutting out of the sea. They're not
important enough to name, nor do they appear on an ordinary map; but
a seaman's chart indicates them, for unless we had knowledge of their
whereabouts we might bump into them."
"They're mostly to the south of us, I see," remarked Mr. Tupper.
"Yes, sir."
"And it's south we must go, I think," said Steve, looking at Chesty
Todd for the youth to confirm his judgment. "There was no wind to take
them to the west of this course, I believe."
"That's my idea," declared the press agent. "I would suggest our
doubling back and forth, on the return trip, covering forty or fifty
miles at each leg. Seems like we couldn't miss 'em, that way."
After much consultation this plan was finally agreed upon. The captain
outlined his course and followed it, so that during the next four days
not a square yard of ocean escaped their search. But it was all in vain
and at the end of the fourth day, with the California coast again in
sight, there was scarcely a person aboard who entertained the slightest
hope of finding the missing girls.