A NIGHT OF ANXIETY
"Hey! here's Nick getting into his cork jacket already!" called Herb.
"All right," said the one in question, firmly. "Think I want to get
washed out on that pond without something to hold me up? Remember, I'm a
new beginner when it comes to swimming. And then I've got more to hold
up than the rest of you."
"Well, help me get this tent down first," remonstrated Herb. "We don't
want to be caught by a storm with these things up, you know."
"But it might rain?" Nick protested.
"Let it. We've got oilskins; and perhaps there'll be plenty of time left
to get into the same. Take hold there."
Herb was right; and the crews of all the little motor boats had already
started to stow away the big covers. Jack kept things as snug as
possible aboard the _Tramp_, in case of a downpour; and that was not at
all the thing he feared most.
They were within fifty feet of cruel looking rocks. If the wind broke
out from any quarter that would send the big billows churning against
that barrier, the fate of the motor boat fleet could be easily guessed.
In a little while everything had been done that seemed possible; after
which they could only sit there, and await whatever was to be handed out
to them.
Nick and Josh were plainly nervous; and even Jimmie showed some signs of
apprehension, nor could they be blamed for this timidity.
"What if one of the boats is swept away?" suggested Josh; who, being in
the narrow-beam _Wireless_ understood that he had much less chance for
safety than those who manned the other craft.
"No danger of that happening," Jack replied, quickly. "The only thing we
have to fear is being smashed up against these rocks. Our boats would
cave in like puff balls."
"That's what," Josh went on. "Perhaps fellows, we ought to go ashore in
the dinkies while we have the chance. Even if we lost the boats we'd
save our lives. And I promised my folk at home I wouldn't take any
unnecessary risks, you know."
But George only sniffed at the idea.
"Rats!" he exclaimed. "There you go just as usual, magnifying the
danger, Josh. As for me, I'm going to stick like glue to this old
_Wireless_. Just see me deserting her because a little squall chances to
blow up. Get ashore if you feel like it. And you too, Buster; only
remember, if we should be blown miles away, you two fellows would be apt
to starve to death in this lonely region."
"That settles it," said Nick, immediately.
If there was any chance of his starving, he stood ready to accept all
sorts of perils rather than face that possibility. And doubtless George
knew all this when he put the case so strenuously.
Josh too decided that he did not want to go ashore. If the others could
stand the danger, he would too.
"It may not be so bad for us, fellows," observed Jack. "Because, if you
look up, you'll see that the clouds are coming from the land side. And
every bang of thunder up to now has been from that direction too. The
storm this time doesn't mean to cross the lake, and hit this shore. And
unless it changes around, we'll be protected from it by these very rocks
we feared so much!"
"Bully! bully! Good for you, Jack!" cried Nick, as if greatly relieved.
"I'm feeling so much better I almost believe my lost appetite is
returning."
"Well, it's so, ain't it?" demanded the other.
"Sure it is," echoed Jimmie, with delight in his voice.
"That's the best news I've heard this long while," remarked George, who
despite his seeming valor, was secretly much distressed over the
outlook.
The thunder increased in violence. Then they heard the sweep of the wind
through the pines and hemlocks on the shore. And in less than ten
minutes the rain was pouring down like a deluge.
They had secured things so that little harm would be done. Still, the
outlook was far from attractive, with several hours of darkness ahead;
during which they must keep on constant guard, not knowing at what
minute the wind might take a notion to veer around to some quarter, that
would send the waves dashing against the rockbound shore so near by.
It seemed as severe a gale as the one they had experienced only a short
time before. Indeed, Jack was of the opinion that the wind was even
greater, though they did not feel it the same way, because of the
shelter obtained from the land.
They would never be apt to forget that night, no matter how time passed.
Watching was serious business for Nick; and three times he was known to
creep over to where Herb kept his cracker bag, doubtless to interest
himself in a little "snack," so as to briefly forget his other
troubles.
Nor did Herb have the heart to take him to task about it. Their
situation was so very distressing that he could think of nothing else.
Every time the lightning flamed athwart the black sky the boys would
look out at the troubled waters stretching as far as the eye could see;
or else send an anxious glance toward the grim rocks that loomed up so
very close over their bows.
Hours seemed like days. Nick groaned, and declared he ached in every
bone.
"What d'ye think of me, then?" demanded Josh. "You're well padded; while
I reckon my poor old bones are going to stick through, pretty soon. I
dassent stand up, because George won't let me; and you can. I wish you
had my berth, Buster."
But at last Herb declared that there were certainly signs of dawn coming
in the east. Every eye was turned that way; and upon learning that the
news was true the boys began to take on fresh hope.
"Well," George said for the tenth time, "I'm glad of one thing, and
that is we managed to get my engine in working order last night before
supper. Goodness knows what a fix I'd have been in otherwise, if we had
to put out to sea when the wind changed."
"Oh! murdher! I hope it won't do the same!" exclaimed Jimmie, who
overheard the remark, and was filled with dismay as he surveyed the wild
scene that stretched away off toward the southern horizon.
"Can't we manage somehow to cook something warm?" asked George.
"Yes, that's it," immediately echoed Nick, beginning to bustle around in
the steady old _Comfort_. "We'll all feel so much better if we have
breakfast. Nothing like a full stomach to put bravery in a fellow, I
tell you."
"Oh! how brave you must feel all the time, then!" observed Josh,
sarcastically.
But Jack knew that this time the fat boy spoke the truth. When people
are wet and shivering things are apt to look gloomy enough; but once
warm them up, and let them eat a hot meal, and somehow a rosy tinge
begins to paint the picture.
They knew just how to go about the matter; and those wonderful German
Juwel kerosene gas stoves filled the bill to a dot; as Nick declared,
after the delightful aroma of boiling coffee had begun to reach his
eager nostrils.
And while the wind still howled through the pines up on the high rocks,
and the billows rolled away toward the south, growing in size as they
drew farther off shore, the motor boat boys sat down to a tasty
breakfast.
"Now, this isn't so bad," observed Nick, as he started in on what had
been dished out to him by Herb, who this time had done the cooking.
"It will be for the boss if he don't get to work in a hurry," Josh flung
across the watery space that separated the boats.
"Don't worry on my account," laughed Herb. "I've got a mortgage on the
balance in the fryingpan, and he'd better not touch it on his life."
"Think the bally old storm is over, Jack?" asked Nick, presently.
"The worst of it is, and I believe the wind seems to be dying down a
little," came the ready reply, as Jack swept the heavens with anxious
eyes.
"I thought that last gust came out a little more toward the west,"
remarked one of the others.
"I'd hate to know that," Jack said. "For old sailors say that when the
wind backs up into the west, after being in the north, without going all
the way around, it means a return of the storm, from another quarter."
"Time enough to get ashore yet!" muttered Josh.
"Go ahead, if you want to," George said grimly. "Take some grub along,
if you make up your mind that way. But I don't stir out of this boat
unless I'm thrown out. Understand that?"
An hour later, and Jack saw that his worst fears were realized.
"Wind's getting around fast now, fellows," he announced.
"It sure is," Herb admitted; for he had been noticing the increased
roughness of the water for a little while back.
"What must we do, Jack?" asked George, with set teeth, and that look of
determination in his eyes that stood for so much.
"Hold out as long as we can," came the reply in a steady voice. "Then,
when the danger of our being dashed against the rocks grows too great,
we'll just have to up-anchor, and start our engines to moving. It will
be safer for us out yonder than so near the shore."
Another half hour went by. Then the little boats were pitching and
tossing violently, as the full force of the onrushing waves caught them.
"Can't stand it much longer, Jack!" called out George, who was having
the most serious time of all.
"Then we might as well make the move now as later!" called Jack. "So get
going, both of you. And remember to stand by as close as you can, so
that we may help in case an upset happens to any boat."
Of course George knew his chum had the cranky _Wireless_ in mind when he
said this; but the peril was not alone confined to the one boat.
Accordingly the engines were started, the anchors gotten aboard after a
tremendous amount of hard work; and the little motor boat fleet put to
sea, with the intention of trying to ride the storm out as best they
might.
If the engines only continued faithful all might yet be well.