ON BOARD THE _CATSPAW_
Steve communicated the project to those aboard the _Follow Me_ which had
now drawn up as near as she dared, and there followed a moment of blank
amazement aboard the smaller boat. But discussion there was brief, and
almost at once Harry Corwin raised his megaphone again and bellowed
across:
"Go to it! What do you want us to do, Steve?"
"Nothing yet," was the answer. "We're going to board her first and see
how she looks. If we take on the job we'll want your heaviest cable."
Harry signalled assent. By this time they were within a hundred yards of
the derelict, and, with engines just moving, they tossed about on the
long swells and had a better look at the schooner. She was about eighty
feet long, with a beam of probably twenty-two, and displaced
approximately a hundred tons. She was square-sterned and blunt-nosed,
evidently built for capacity rather than speed. Her name, in gold
letters on the bow, was quite distinct: _Catspaw_. Later, when they
rounded her stern, they saw that her home port was Norfolk. Her cargo,
or at least so much of it as was above deck, consisted of rough pine
boards, and every available foot of space was occupied with it. The
deck-house was all but hidden. The mainmast dragged by a tangle of ropes
aft of the starboard beam and was acting as a sort of sea-anchor. For
the rest, her lumber-piled deck was swept clean save for a splintered
gaff that had become wedged in the boards. Her hull had been painted
black, but not very recently, and a dingy white streak led along the
side.
The two cruisers worked cautiously around to the leeward side of the
_Catspaw_, the _Adventurer's_ tender was dropped over and Steve, Joe and
Han climbed in. Boarding in that sea was no child's work, for the big
swells, which slammed into and sometimes over the schooner without much
effect, tossed the dingey high in air. But by rowing hard at first and
then taking advantage of the quieter water near the schooner they at
last reached the old black hull in safety and, while Han managed the
boat-hook, the other two scrambled aboard.
As they had suspected, the hulk was utterly deserted, and the fact that
the forecastle and the captain's quarters were bare of anything of
value and that the davits were empty indicated that the vessel had been
abandoned in order. There was a good deal of water in her, but, as Steve
pointed out, she wouldn't sink in a dozen years with that load of lumber
to hold her up. "She wouldn't show much speed," he said when they had
completed their investigations and were once more on deck, "and she'll
tow about as easy as a lump of lead, but it's only thirty miles or so to
Portsmouth, and even if we make only two miles an hour, and I guess we
won't make much more, we can get her there tomorrow. That is, we can if
our cables hold and the weather doesn't get nasty. I don't much like the
looks of that same weather, though."
"Well, the barometer is rising," said Joe, "and that means--"
"Never mind your old barometer," laughed Steve. "Anyway, we'll have a go
at this. If we have to give it up, all right, but we'd be silly not to
try it. Come on and we'll get the cables aboard."
Two hours of hard work followed. With the cruisers tagging along nearby,
suiting their pace to the slow drift of the schooner, the boys cut away
the wreckage and rigged a jury-mast at the stump of the foremast. On
this they spread a spare forestaysail which they dug from the sail
locker. That it would aid greatly in the ship's progress Steve did not
expect, but it would, he figured, make steering easier. Then the
cruiser's heaviest anchor cables were taken aboard and made fast at the
bow. A "prize crew" consisting of Joe, Han and Perry, from the
_Adventurer_, and Wink and Bert, from the _Follow Me_, was placed in
charge and enough food for two meals supplied them. The galley stove was
still in running order, although it reeked of grease, and there was a
fair supply of wood handy. Bert Alley, who had volunteered to do the
cooking, objected to an inch or so of water that swashed around the
floor, but the others pulled a pair of old rubber boots from a chest in
the forecastle and he became reconciled. At noon they all returned to
their respective cruisers and ate dinner, which, under the conditions,
was no easy matter. They had to hold the dishes to the table and swallow
their tea between plunges. Joe was inordinately proud of himself that
day, for, in spite of the nasty motion--and there's nothing much more
likely to induce sickness than a long ground-swell--he not only remained
on duty but consumed his dinner with a fine appetite. It rained quite
hard for a half-hour about noon and then ceased just in time for them
to set off to the _Catspaw_ again. It was decided that the _Follow Me's_
tender was to be left with the schooner, in case of necessity, and Joe
acknowledged that he felt a bit easier in his mind when it had been
hoisted, not without difficulty, to one of the davits.
"It's all fine and dandy to say that this old tub can't sink," he
confided to Wink Wheeler, "but--um--suppose she _did_ sink? Then that
little old dingey would be worth about a thousand dollars, I guess."
"It would be worth about ten cents," answered Wink pessimistically,
"after we'd crowded five fellows into her in a sea like this!"
"Well, anyway, she's bigger than ours," said Joe. "And I saw a life belt
downstairs--I mean below."
Joe and Wink were to take watches at the wheel, Perry and Han were to
tend to the sail and keep a lookout and Bert was to cook. Steve issued
his final directions at a little past one and then the two hawsers were
stretched to the cruisers. Another squall of rain set in as the final
preparations were made. A code of signals had been arranged between the
three boats, a flag or piece of sailcloth to be used while the light
held and a lantern after darkness. The "prize crew" cheered gaily as
the others pulled away in the _Adventurer's_ dingey and were cheered in
return, and five minutes later the two cables tautened, the water foamed
under the overhangs of the motor-boats and, reluctantly and even
protestingly, the _Catspaw_ obeyed the summons and started slowly to
follow in the wakes of the distant cruisers.
Han and Perry, at the bow, waved caps triumphantly as the blunt nose of
the schooner began to dig into the waves, and Joe, at the wheel, shouted
back. The three-cornered sail was shifted to meet the following breeze
and soon the _Catspaw_ was wallowing along slowly but, as it seemed, in
a determined way at the rate of, perhaps, three miles an hour. Perry,
protected by a slicker, seated himself on the windlass and felt very
important. Now and then someone aboard one of the cruisers waved a hand
and Perry waved superbly back. Those cruisers were a long way off in
case of danger, he reflected once, but he decided not to let his mind
dwell on the fact.
Joe found that the wheel of the _Catspaw_ required a good deal more
attention than that of the _Adventurer_, and his arms were fairly tired
by the time he yielded his place to the impatiently eager Wink.
Steering the _Catspaw_ with the sea almost up to her deck line was a
good deal like steering a scow loaded with pig-iron, Joe decided. Not,
of course, that he had ever steered a scow of any sort, but he had
imagination.
The _Adventurer_ and _Follow Me_ were heading West Southwest one-fourth
West to pass Boon Island to starboard, and Kittery Point lay some thirty
miles away. As it was then just short of three bells, and as they were
making, as near as those aboard the _Catspaw_ could judge, very nearly
three miles an hour, it seemed probable that by two o'clock that night
they would be at anchor off Portsmouth Harbour. Of course, there was
always the possibility of bad weather or a broken cable, but the
_Catspaw's_ crew declined to be pessimistic. They were having a royal
good time. There was enough danger in the enterprise to make it
exciting, and, being normal, healthy chaps, excitement was better than
food. Perry proclaimed his delight at last finding an adventure quite to
his taste.
"Being wrecked on that island the other day was poor fun," he declared.
"And it was dreadfully messy, too. But this is the real thing, fellows!
Why, this old hooker might take it into her head to go down _ker-plop_
any minute!"
"Huh," replied Wink Wheeler, "that may be your idea of the real thing,
Perry, but it isn't mine. I'm just as strong for adventure as you,
sonny, but I prefer mine on top of the water and not underneath!"
"Shucks," said Joe, "this thing can't sink. Look at all the lumber on
her!"
"Yes, but it might get water-logged," suggested Bert from the door of
the deck-house. "Wood does, doesn't it?"
"Not for a long time," said Joe. "Years, maybe. And this lumber's new.
You can tell by the looks of it."
"Well, don't be to sure," advised Perry, darkly. "You never can tell.
And there's another thing, too. We're top-heavy, with all these boards
piled up on deck here, and if a storm came up we might easily turn
turtle."
"Oh, dry up," said Han. "You're worse than Poe's raven. Besides, she
couldn't turn over, you idiot, as long as the lumber floated. She'd have
to stay right-side up."
"Wish we had a barometer aboard," said Joe. "We'd know what to expect
then."
"You mean we'd know what you'd tell us to expect," replied Perry
ironically. "And then we'd get something else. For my part, I'm glad
they took their old barometer with them."
"They took about everything that wasn't nailed down except the stove,"
said Wink.
"That's nailed down, too," said Bert. "Or, at least, it's bolted. How
many do you suppose there were on board when the storm hit them?"
"About five, maybe. Perhaps six. I guess five could handle a schooner
this size. Five are handling her now, anyway," Joe added.
Nothing of moment occurred during the afternoon, if we except occasional
squalls of rain, until, at about five, those on the schooner observed a
smudge of smoke to the southward that eventually proved to be coming
from an ocean tug. The tug approached them half an hour later and ran
alongside the _Adventurer_. The boys on the _Catspaw_ saw the boat's
captain appear from the pilot-house and point a megaphone toward the
white cruiser, and glimpsed Steve replying. What was said they could
only surmise, but the tug's mission was evident enough.
"He wants the job," said Joe anxiously. "Wonder if Steve will let him
have it."
"I hope he doesn't," said Wink. "We can do the trick without anyone's
help, I guess. Besides, he'd want half the money we'll get."
"More than half, probably," said Han. "He's still talking. I wish he'd
run away smiling."
He did finally. That is, he went off, but whether he was smiling they
couldn't say. They fancied, however, that he was not, for the _Catspaw_
would have made a nice prize for the tug's owners.
The tug plunged off the way she had come and was soon only a speck in
the gathering twilight. It seemed a bit more lonesome after she had
gone, and more than one of the quintette aboard the _Catspaw_ wondered
whether, after all, it might not have been the part of wisdom to have
accepted assistance. Darkness came early that evening, and by six the
lights on the _Adventurer_ and _Follow Me_ showed wanly across the
surly, shadowy sea. Han and Perry had already prepared the two lanterns
they had found on board and as soon as the cruisers set the fashion they
placed them fore and aft, one where it could be plainly seen from the
boats ahead and the other on the roof of the deck-house. While they were
at that task the darkness settled down rapidly, and by the time they had
finished the cruisers were only blotches against which shone the white
lights placed at the sterns for the guidance of the _Catspaw's_
navigators.
The boys ate their suppers in relays about half-past six. Bert had
prepared plenty of coffee and cooked several pans of bacon and eggs, and
had done very well for a tyro. Later the _Adventurer_ turned on her
searchlight and against the white path of it she was plainly visible. A
more than usually severe squall of wind and rain broke over them about
eight and when the rain, which pelted quite fiercely for a few minutes,
had passed on the wind continued. It was coming from the northwest and
held a chilliness that made the amateur mariners squirm down into their
sweaters and raincoats. The _Catspaw_, low in the water as she was,
nevertheless felt the push of the wind and keeping her blunt nose
pointed midway between the two lights ahead became momentarily more
difficult. At the end of an hour it required the services of both Joe
and Wink to hold the schooner steady. Perry and Han, huddled as much out
of the chilling wind as they could be, kept watch at the bow. Keeping
watch, though, was more a figure of speech than an actuality, for the
night was intensely dark and save for the lights of the towing craft
nothing was discernible.
The sea arose under the growing strength of the nor'wester and soon the
waves were thudding hard against the rail and the piled lumber and
sending showers of spray across the deck. The _Catspaw_ rolled and
wallowed and the watchers at the bow soon knew from the sound of the
straining cables that the cruisers were having difficulty. Bert crawled
forward through the darkness and spray and joined them.
"Joe says they'll be signalling to cast off the hawsers pretty quick,"
he bellowed above the wind and waves. "He says we aren't making any
headway at all now."
"Gee, it'll be fine to be left pitching around here all night," said
Perry alarmedly. "If we only had an anchor--"
"I'd rather keep on drifting," said Han. "It'll be a lot more
comfortable."
"Maybe, but we'll be going out to sea again. Seems to me they might keep
hold of us even if they don't get along much." Perry ducked before the
hissing avalanche of spray that was flung across the deck. "There's one
thing certain," he added despondently. "We've got to stay on this old
turtle as long as she'll let us, for we couldn't get that dingey off now
if we tried!"
"What's the difference?" asked Han. "They'll stick around us until the
wind goes down again, and we're just as well off here as they are on
the boats. Bet you the _Adventurer_ is doing some pitching herself about
now!"
They relapsed into silence then, for making one's self heard above the
clamour of wind and water and the groans and creakings of the schooner
was hard work. They watched the _Adventurer_ for the expected signal for
a long time, but it was nearly ten when a lantern began to swing from
side to side on the cruiser. A moment later they heard faintly the
shriek of the _Adventurer's_ whistle.