LAND—BUT WHERE?
With the grey of the dawn, the fog again drifted out to sea and the sun
arose in a glory of flaming color.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Virg said to the pale, weary girl at her side.
“The God who has created the sun and the stars, and keeps them in their
places, can also take care of us and I know that he will.” Then she
added very softly, “I wish the other girls might sleep longer, for, if
they waken, they will be hungry and we have nothing to give them.”
“I suppose poor Mrs. Dorsey is frantic because we have not returned,”
said Megsy, also in a whisper. “I am truly sorry for her, but I do hope
that she won’t wire Mrs. Martin and spoil her long planned vacation.”
“No fear of that, for, directly after the wedding, Mrs. Martin was to go
with her brother and sister on an automobile trip visiting many
interesting places, and, returning with them to Vine Haven at the close
of the vacation. I heard her tell Mrs. Dorsey not to try to forward her
mail as she would have no definite address. However, Mrs. Dorsey will,
of course, notify the town authorities and they will begin to search for
us, but they will not dream that we are lost at sea since we started out
to hike across country.”
For a moment Margaret silently watched the East. Then she said: “Virg,
if it weren’t for the real danger that we are in, I would be glad to
have this opportunity of seeing such a wonderful sunrise. The very water
seems to be of molten gold.”
“It is awe-inspiring,” the older girl replied. “I feel as though we were
in the very presence of the Creator.”
A bank of shining mist was just ahead of them. “It is the very same that
I have seen from Pine Cabin,” Virg remarked, “and dear old Mrs. Torrence
often said that she believed it to be an island, which looked misty
because of the distance, and once, when the air was unusually clear, I
actually believed that I could see its rocky outlines.”
The two girls, who so loved each other, walked toward the bow of the old
boat, and with eyes shaded, gazed ahead through the shimmering air.
“We must have drifted far in those long hours of the night,” Margaret
said. “We have much to be thankful for that we did not run upon a
shoal.” Suddenly the speaker clutched the arm of her companion. “Virg,
after all, we must be drifting back toward the shore. See, there is land
in that cloud of mist. Can’t you see it? I can plainly make out trees
and rocks.”
“It is indeed land,” Virginia replied, a prayer of gratitude in her
heart, “but not the land that we left yesterday, and, what is more, I
believe it is an island. A very long one, it would seem, but I think
that I can see both ends of it.” Then after a moment. “Oh, I’m so afraid
that we are going to drift beyond it.”
At that moment Barbara appeared on deck, and, noting the excited faces
of her two friends, she asked eagerly, “What has happened?”
When she heard that Virginia was afraid that they would not drift to the
island, Babs exclaimed, “Girls, surely there is a rudder! Peyton taught
me how to steer his sail-boat the year before he left home.” Even as she
spoke, she was hurrying to the stern. The rudder handle was swinging
aimlessly.
At Barbara’s firm touch, the boat responded and swung around, heading in
the direction toward which Virginia was pointing.
The other girls appeared on deck and were overjoyed to see land, which,
as the sun rose higher, and the fog lifted, was plainly discernable, not
more than an eighth of a mile ahead of them.
They were soon near enough to see that it was a large, rocky island with
a densely wooded hill rising high in the middle of it. Too, there was a
long stretch of deserted beach shining white in the sun.
“I don’t see anyone about,” Eleanor said, making field glasses of her
hands, “but then it is very early. Perhaps the inhabitants are not yet
astir.”
“Megsy, stand in the bow, will you?” the girl at the rudder called.
“Sometimes, as one nears land, there are almost hidden shoals. Keep a
close watch ahead, and, if you do see one, motion which way I am to
steer.”
Eleanor joined Margaret in the bow of the boat and they gazed anxiously
into the water, over which the boat was slowly drifting. Suddenly Megsy
waved frantically to the left. Barbara pushed on the rudder with all her
strength, but it was too late, The boat slid up on a wide flat submerged
shoal.
There was a cry of alarm from the younger girls, but Virginia calmed
them. After looking into the water, she said, “We are in no immediate
danger. Now, let us think calmly just what may happen and what we would
better do.”
“I was noticing, when we let down the bunks in the hold, that the boards
were loose. I think we would better each get one to cling to, if we
found ourselves in the water.” This from the thoughtful Eleanor.
“I agree with you,” Virginia said, “for although we seem to be
well-grounded, it is very probable that a hole has been made in the
bottom of the boat. If larger waves come in, we will be lifted from the
shoal, the hold will fill with water and the boat will sink.”
Even Sally, relieved because the rocking motion had ceased, went with
the others below decks. They soon reappeared dragging boards, one at a
time. They were not as easy to procure as had been supposed. Indeed,
within the hour that followed, only three had been brought up on deck.
It was then that Eleanor made a discovery. “The water is leaving the
shoal,” she announced. “Before many minutes I do believe that we will be
high and dry.”
Almost breathlessly the six girls leaned over the rail and watched the
shoal.
“The tide has turned,” Virginia said. “It does, you know, every twelve
hours, and it is just about that long since we started out on this
voyage.”
Margaret, who had been intensely gazing at the shore, now exclaimed:
“Girls, do you know what I think? I believe that we are stranded on the
outer edge of a shoal that goes right up to the island, and that, in a
few moments, it will be above water. Then we can land.”
Fifteen minutes later Margaret’s prophecy was fulfilled. Virginia
rejoiced at this, for they would all be able to desert the craft, which
she no longer considered a safe haven.
“I’ll climb over first,” Betsy volunteered, “and if I can walk to the
shore without slipping in the briny deep, the rest of you may safely
follow. First of all, let’s remove our shoes and stockings.”
Virginia remained in the boat until all the others had climbed out and
were well on their way to the shore. Margaret, standing on the shoal,
was waiting for her, when suddenly she uttered a cry of alarm.
“Virg! Hurry up, quick! The boat is slipping out with the tide.”
And so it surely was. Lightened of nearly all its load, the old hulk was
once again afloat. Virginia leaped over the rail and was caught by
Margaret’s outstretched hands. They had to cling to each other a moment
to regain their balance. Betsy, having heard the cry, ran back toward
them.
“The boat!” she ejaculated. “Why, it’s sailing away! Lookee!”
The other two girls nodded. “We know it well enough,” Megsy informed
her. “Our darling Virg nearly sailed away on it.”
“Don’t tell the others, please,” the oldest girl pleaded. “Since all is
well, there is no need to trouble them.”
They were nearing the shore when Barbara, who was sitting there, pointed
excitedly back of them. “Girls! See what we’ve escaped.” Virginia,
Margaret and Betsy looked back of them and beheld the old hulk slowly
sinking in the deep water beyond the shoal.
“Talk of adventure! I never heard of so much outside of a book!” Barbara
declared. “That’s what might be labeled a ‘hair breadth escape.’”
Virginia looked about her. “Well, at least we can’t drown here,” she
said, “for, instead of water, we have a wide deserted beach, rocky
cliffs and a dense woodland.”
“But we may be eaten by cannibals.” It was the first time that Sally had
ventured a remark since landing.
“Luckily there are none in these civilized parts,” Babs replied. “Now,
girls,” she continued, “let’s hold a council and decide what we are to
eat for breakfast.”
“Goodness, yes, let’s! I’d almost as soon drown as starve.” This from
Betsy, who, having seated herself on a rock, was putting on her shoes
and stockings. The others did likewise. Megsy, saying dolefully the
while, “We might hold twenty councils, but pray, how would that procure
us anything to eat?”
“There may be a fisherman living on this island.” Virg hoped she was a
prophet, but was almost convinced that she was not. The island was too
remote to be accessible to the markets.
Betsy, again on her feet, put one finger against her forehead as though
in deep thought. “Idea!” she then sang out.
“Let’s hear it, old dear.” Babs felt her spirits greatly restored now
that her feet were on dry land.
“When I was a little kid I read ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ seven times and
I now recall a few of the ways that were resorted to for the obtaining
of sustenance.”
“Shooting stars, Betsy! You must have swallowed the book whole when you
finished reading it. You talk just like it.” It was of course Babs who
was taunting her friend.
“I did!” Betsy solemnly looked about. “If the worst comes to the worst,
we can build a house in a tree, the way they did, and—”
“Begin on the eats, old dear. What did the Swiss family do when they
were hungry?”
“They—er—” It was plain Betsy’s memory needed considerable searching.
“Oh, yes, they dug clams.” This, with a sudden brightening expression on
her piquant, freckled face. Then she laughed as she confessed, “I
haven’t the vaguest notion how it was done.”
“I have!” Barbara was glad that she and Peyton had spent a summer on the
coast when they were a boy and girl. “First you hunt around for a little
air-bubbly-hole on the sand at low tide and then dig down and get the
clam.”
“Just so easy!” Betsy laughed. “Come on, everybody. Hunt for air holes.”
But it wasn’t so easy after all. Now and then one of their number would
leap toward what seemed to be an air-hole, dig frantically; then give up
as a clam was not revealed.
“I’ve heard of stranded travelers living for quite a time on birds’
eggs.” It was Eleanor who made this suggestion.
“Well, I, for one, can climb trees.” Betsy started to race toward the
woods, and the others followed, but once among the great old trees, they
paused.
“I haven’t seen a sign of a footprint of any kind,” Virginia remarked,
“so I conclude that we have this island very much to ourselves.”
But Virginia was mistaken for at least one dweller of the island was
crouched in a nearby tangle of bushes and a pair of dark eyes watched
every move made by the six invaders.