WRECKAGE
"Good night! We'll be lucky if we get away on the trip at all!"
exclaimed Frank, as he and Joe hastened down the stairs.
Mrs. Hardy was already at the front door welcoming Aunt Gertrude, who
was expatiating on the wickedness of taxi drivers in general.
"So!" she ejaculated, as the boys appeared. "Standing up at a front
window laughing at your great-aunt instead of coming down and helping
carry up her bags like little gentlemen! I'm surprised at you!"
"We were just getting dressed, Aunt Gertrude," explained Frank meekly.
"Getting dressed, eh!" snorted Aunt Gertrude, taking in their attire.
"Getting dressed! What kind of an outfit do you call that?" She poked
Joe in the ribs with her umbrella, indicating the faded khaki shirt
he was wearing. "Speak up, boy! What kind of an outfit is that? No
necktie. Holes in your trousers. Shoes not shined."
"We were just getting ready to go on a boat trip, Aunt Gertrude," Joe
explained.
"Boat trip! Boat trip! No! That settles it!" declared Aunt Gertrude,
coming into the house and banging the umbrella decisively on the floor
by way of emphasis. "I shan't allow it. The very idea! Laura," she
said, turning to Mrs. Hardy, "I'm surprised at you. Ab-so-lute-ly
astonished! The very idea of letting these children go out in a boat!
Don't you remember what happened to my Cousin Peter? He went out in a
boat, didn't he? And what happened? The boat upset. He might have been
drowned if the water had been deep enough. Thank goodness he was only
a few feet from shore. But it only goes to show what _can_ happen. If
these boys go out in a boat they'll be drowned. I can't permit them
to be drowned. They shan't go on any boat trip. That settles it!" She
strode into the living room. "Boys--bring in my bags!" she commanded.
Mrs. Hardy smiled, for she was quite accustomed to the eccentricities
of Aunt Gertrude, and the Hardy boys scuttled down the front steps for
the baggage.
"Do you think she means it?" whispered Joe.
"Sure, she means it. But we'll get out somehow. She'll rave for a
while, but she'll forget all about it when she starts to show mother
how to run the house."
The boys deposited Aunt Gertrude's luggage in the guest room, then went
downstairs for inspection. By this time the old lady had taken off her
coat and hat and was seated in the most comfortable chair, fanning
herself with a newspaper.
"Boat trip!" she was snorting, as they entered the room. "Never heard
of such a thing. Letting little boys like that go out in a boat alone.
If they were _my_ boys I wouldn't let them out of my sight. Up to some
mischief, I'll be bound."
"They are going out to look for two chums of theirs who have been lost
for three days," Mrs. Hardy explained.
"And serve them right! I suppose they were out on a boat trip, too.
I knew it! And now they're lost. That's what happens when you let
children go out in boats. They get lost. Or drowned. And now you would
let these two youngsters go out in a boat, too. And I suppose in a few
days some of their chums would have to go out in a boat to look for
_them_. They'd get lost, too. And then some more little boys would go
out to look for _them_. And they'd get lost. By the end of the summer
there wouldn't be a boy left in Bayport. Not that it would be much of a
loss," sniffed Aunt Gertrude; "but I hate to see people making fools of
themselves."
"Did you have a pleasant journey?" asked Mrs. Hardy, anxious to change
the subject.
"Did I _ever_ have a pleasant journey?" countered Aunt Gertrude. "What
with the rudeness of conductors and ticket-sellers and baggage-men and
taxi drivers there's no enjoyment in traveling nowadays. But _I_ put
'em in their place. I know my rights and I insist on them!"
She glared ferociously about the room as though confronting a multitude
of conductors, baggage-men and taxi drivers awaiting judgment.
"Now, boys! what are you staring at? Don't you know it's rude to be
staring at people? Run away and play. I want to talk to your mother.
Run away and play! Shoo!" She brandished the umbrella at them and the
Hardy boys left the room precipitately. Their mother excused herself
for a moment and followed them into the hall.
"Run!" she said, smiling. "I'll take care of Aunt Gertrude. Run along
while you have the chance."
They kissed their mother good-bye and hastily departed, wondering how
she was to explain their flight to the terrible Aunt Gertrude, in view
of that lady's melancholy predictions concerning their fate should they
venture out in the boat.
They found Slim Robinson waiting for them at the boathouse, and with
many chuckles the boys told him of their escape from the tyrant who
would have prevented their departure.
"We'd better hurry or she'll be down here after us if she finds we've
got away from her," declared Joe.
"Tony and the other fellows are over in the other boathouse," Slim told
them. "I think they're ready now."
"All right. Let's be going."
Frank started the engine of the _Sleuth_ and the motorboat moved slowly
out into the open bay. He steered a course for the entrance to Prito's
boathouse, where Tony and the others were waiting. As soon as Tony
saw him he started his own craft, and the _Napoli_ nosed its way out
abreast of them.
"All set?" shouted Frank.
"All set."
"Away we go."
The two boats drummed their way out into Barmet Bay and headed out
toward the sea, side by side, picking up speed when they had threaded
their way through the shipping near the docks.
It was evening before they reached the first village on the coast,
after leaving the bay, and although they made numerous inquiries they
failed to find any trace of their chums. No one in the village had seen
or heard a motorboat during the storm, although they readily admitted
that the craft might have passed without being noticed, owing to the
gloom and the violence of the gale. The chums spent the night at this
village and resumed their journey the next morning, going farther up
the coast.
Their progress was necessarily slow because there were numerous small
villages and they stopped at them all to make inquiries.
But in every case the answer was the same.
No motorboat answering to the description of the _Envoy_ had been seen.
None of the fishermen had heard of the craft.
"It's ten chances to one that they was wrecked in that storm," an old
fisherman at one of the villages declared when they told him their
story. "Unless they were mighty lucky they wouldn't get past Ragged
Reef. They might get this far up the coast, but they'd never get past
the Reef."
"Where is that?"
"Not far from here. Up past the next point. Seems to me I heard one of
the boys sayin' this mornin' that there was some wreckage on the reef
yesterday. There's none of our boats missin' from hereabouts, so mebby
it's them young fellers."
The two motorboats thereupon started for Ragged Reef. The lads were
downhearted. They had little hope that they would ever find their two
companions alive. The words of the old fisherman struck terror into
their hearts.
When they rounded the point they saw the black and ominous line of
Ragged Reef before them. A jagged and irregular series of rocks jutting
above the surface of the water in the form of a huge semicircle--this
was the reef on which the _Envoy_ might have come to grief.
Fortunately, the day was calm so that the searchers were able to
venture more closely to the reef than they might have otherwise dared.
Frank edged the _Sleuth_ in toward the rocks as closely as possible.
Suddenly he gave an exclamation:
"The fisherman was right! There _is_ wreckage there!"
He pointed to a few broken fragments of wood that could be discerned
against the rocks. Joe picked up the marine glasses and peered at the
fragments for some time.
"It's wreckage of a boat of some kind," he declared gravely, lowering
the glasses at last. "But whether it's from the _Envoy_ or not, I
couldn't say."
Slim also looked through the glasses. He was able to see more
fragments of wreckage farther along the reef.
"Some boat has been battered to pieces along here. There isn't enough
wreckage left to tell whether it was a motorboat or a sailing vessel."
He scrutinized the mainland. "Nothing there," he announced finally.
"Not a sign of life--nor wreckage either. It's all on the reef."
So interested had the boys been in the fragments of broken wood on the
jagged rocks that they had not noticed that the motorboat was edging
in closer to the reef. There was a strong current at this point and,
unnoticed by the boys, the boat was being carried irresistibly forward.
A warning shout from the lads in the _Napoli_ told them of their danger.
Frank had throttled down the engine so that the _Sleuth_ had been
almost drifting. Now he sprang for the helm, conscious of the peril
that had crept so insidiously upon them.
The great black rocks of the reef loomed closer. The motorboat seemed
to be dragged mercilessly toward its doom. The powerful current had the
craft firmly in its grasp!