IN PERIL OF THE WATERS
Again I hazarded a glance about me. The shallow-draughted craft had
already drifted a distance off-shore, and was listing over under the
pressure of the wind upon her lofty mast. The white ripples had grown to
short angry surges, and because darkness was approaching and the narrow
bay difficult to work into, it was evident we must lose no time in
getting back again. There was no anchor on board, and if I reefed the
sail (or rolled up the foot of it to reduce the area) the boat would
meanwhile increase her distance from the beach. It therefore seemed
necessary to attempt to thrash back under the whole mainsail.
"Will you shove the centerboard down by the iron handle, and then take
hold of the tiller, Miss Haldane?" I said.
The girl, stooping, thrust at the handle projecting from the trunk
containing the drawn-up center keel. The iron plate should have dropped
at a touch, but did not, and I sprang to her side when she said:
"Something must be holding it fast."
She was right. Caryl had either bent the plate by striking a rock or a
piece of driftwood had jammed into the opening, for, do what I would,
the iron refused to fall more than a third of its proper distance, and
it was with a slight shock of dismay I relinquished the struggle. A
sailing craft of any description will only work to windward in zigzags
diagonally to the breeze, and then only provided there is enough of her
under water to provide lateral resistance, which the deep center keel
should have supplied. As it was, I must attempt to remedy the deficiency
by press of canvas at the risk of a capsize.
Fortunately my companion was quick-witted and cool, and, standing at
the helm, followed my instructions promptly, while I dragged at the
halliards, and the loose folds of sailcloth rose thrashing overhead. I
was breathless when the sail was set, but sprang aft to the helm, lifted
the girl to the weather deck, and perched myself as high on that side as
I could, with the mainsheet round my left wrist and my right hand on the
tiller, wondering if the mast would bear the strain. The boat swayed
down until her leeward deck was buried in a rush of foam and her bending
mast slanted half way to the horizontal. Little clouds of spray shot up
from her weather bow as, gathering way, she swept ahead, and then they
gave place to sheets of water, which lashed our faces, and, sluicing
deep along the decks, poured over the coaming ledge into the open well.
Still, we were in comparatively smooth water where one could risk a
little, and while the straining mainsheet, which I dare not make fast,
sawed into my wrist, I glanced at my companion. Her hat was
sodden--already her hair clung in soaked clusters to her forehead, and
her wet face showed white against the dark water which raced past us.
Yet it was still confident, and her voice was level as she said: "Let me
help you. That rope is cutting your wrist."
I could have smiled at the thought of those slender fingers sharing that
strain; but thinking it would be well to keep her attention occupied,
nodded, and was a trifle surprised at the relief when the girl seized
the hard wet hemp. "If I say--let go--lift your hands at once," I said.
We were now tearing through the water at such pace that the boat flung a
good deal of what she displaced all over her, but a glance at the dark
pines ashore showed that she was making very little to windward, while,
when I looked over my shoulder at the boiling wake astern, it was too
plainly evident that, owing to the loss of the centerboard, we were
driving bodily sideways as well as ahead. Also the snowy froth which
lapped higher up the lee deck was perilously near the coaming protecting
the open well. Still, our expectant friends stood clustered among the
boulders fringing one horn of the bay, and I saw that Caryl held a rope
in his hand. We might just pass within reach of it on the next tack.
"We must come round. Slip down, and climb up on the opposite side as the
sail swings over," I said, carefully shoving the tiller down.
There was a thrashing of canvas as the boat came round, and I breathed
more easily as, gathering way on the opposite tack, she headed well up
for the boulder point where Caryl was somewhat awkwardly swinging the
coil of rope. The point drew nearer and nearer, and I could see Beatrice
Haldane standing rigidly still against the somber pines, when, as
ill-luck would have it, the dark branches set up a roaring as a wild
gust swept down. The boat swayed further over. Most of her forward was
buried in a rush of foam, and the water poured steadily into the well;
but I still held fast the sheet which would have loosed the sail, for we
might reach the rope in another two minutes. The gust increased in
violence. Foam and water poured over the coamings in cataracts, and,
seeing that otherwise a capsize was inevitable, I released the sheet.
The canvas rattled furiously, the craft swayed upright and commenced to
blow away sternforemost like a feather, while I dropped into the bottom
of her, ankle deep in water.
"There is no help for it--we must reef. Take the tiller, and hold
it--so," I said.
It was not without an effort I tied the tack, or forward corner of the
mainsail, down; then, floundering aft, hauled the afterside of it down
to the boom. That accomplished and the sail thus reduced by some two
feet all along its foot, there remained to be tied the row of short
lines, or reef points, which would hold the discarded portion when
rolled up; and when part of these were knotted it was with misgivings I
leaped up on the after-deck. The long, jerking boom projected a fathom
beyond the stern, and I must hold on by my toes while leaning out over
the water as I pulled the reef points at that end together.
"I am going to trust you with the safety of both of us, Miss Haldane," I
said. "When you see the boom swing inwards pull the tiller towards you
before it flings me off."
The girl had grown a little paler, and her hands trembled on the helm,
but she answered without hesitation: "Don't be longer than you can
help--but I understand."
She showed a fine intelligence and a perfect self-command, or our voyage
might have ended abruptly; so the reefing was accomplished, and I
resumed the helm. Meanwhile, however, we had drifted well out into the
lake, and a few minutes of sailing proved that under her reduced canvas
the boat would not beat back to the windward shore. The figures among
the boulders had faded into the deepening gloom, but, assuming a
cheerfulness I did not feel, I said: "It is quite impossible to return,
and as it is growing too late to look for a safe landing or path through
the bush, we must head for home and send back horses for the others. It
will be a fair wind."
"I was afraid so," said the girl with a shiver. "But I hope we shall not
be very long on the way. We spent five hours coming."
I knew we should travel at a pace approaching a steamer's, provided the
craft could be kept from filling; but, enlarging upon the former point,
I tried to conceal the latter possibility, as I put the helm up; and the
craft, rising upright, but commencing to roll horribly, raced away
down-wind towards open water. Once out of the point's shelter, short but
angry waves raced white behind her, for one may find sufficient turmoil
of waters when a fresh gale sweeps the Canadian lakes. The rolling grew
wilder, the long boom splashed heavily into the white upheavals that
surged by on each side, and our progress became a series of upward
rushes and swoops, until at times I feared the craft would run her bows
under and go down bodily. Once I caught my companion glancing over the
stern, and, knowing how ugly oncoming waves appear when they heave up
behind a running vessel, I laid a hand on her shoulder and gently turned
her head aside.
"There! You must look only that way, and tell me if you see any islands
across our course," I said.
It was practically dark now, but I could distinguish the whiteness of
her wet face, and see her shiver violently. My jacket was spongy, I had
nothing to wrap her in, but she looked so wet and pitiful that I drew
her towards me and slipped a dripping arm protectingly about her.
Lucille Haldane made no demur. The wild rolling, the flying spray, and
the rush of short tumbling ridges must have been sufficiently
terrifying, and perhaps she found the contact reassuring.
One hand was all I needed. There was now nothing any unassisted man
could do except keep the craft straight before wind and sea, but it was
quite sufficient for one who had lost much of his dexterity with the
tiller, and at times the boat twisted on a white crest in imminent peril
of rolling over. Worse than all, the waves that smote the flat stern
commenced to splash on board, and the water inside the boat rose
rapidly. Already the floorings were floating, and I dare not for a
second loose the tiller. It was Lucille Haldane who solved the
difficulty.
"Is not all that water getting dangerous?" she asked, with chattering
teeth; and, knowing her keenness, I saw there was no use attempting to
hide the fact.
"Why did you not tell me so earlier?" she continued. "It is only right
that I should do my share, and I can at least throw some of it out."
"You are not fit for such work, and must sit still. At this pace we
shall see the lights of Leyland's house soon," I said, tightening my
hold on her; but the girl shook off my grasp.
"I am not so helpless that I cannot make an effort to do what is so
necessary," she said. "Let me go, Mr. Ormesby, or I shall never forgive
you. Where is the bailer?"
I pointed to it, and even in face of the necessity it hurt me to see her
alternately kneeling in the water that surged to and fro and trying to
hold herself upright while she raised and emptied the heavy bucket.
Often she upset its contents over herself or me, and several times a
lurch flung her cruelly against the coaming; but she persevered with
undiminished courage until she stumbled in a savage roll and struck her
head. Then she clung to the coaming, the water draining from her, and,
not daring to move from the tiller, I could do nothing but growl
anathemas upon the boat's owner, until the girl sank down in the stern
sheets beside me.
"I must rest a little," she said. "But what were you saying, Mr.
Ormesby?"
"Only that I should like to hang the man who invented this unhandy rig,
and Caryl for tempting you on board such a craft," I answered, hoping
she had not heard the whole of my remarks. "You poor child, it is
shameful that you should have to do such work; and, whatever happens,
you shall not try again."
Her tresses, released from whatever bound them, streamed in the wind
about her, and she seemed to shrink a little from me as she struggled
with them. "It is not Caryl's fault. I clumsily let the rope go when I
was pulling the boat in, and as it is some little time since I was a
child, I do not care to be treated as one. Have I not done my best?" she
asked.
"You have done gallantly; more than many men unused to
seamanship--Caryl, for instance--could. All this is due to his
stupidity," I answered; and fancied there was a trace of resentment in
her voice as she said: "Poor Ted! He is brave enough, at least. I know
he cannot swim, and yet he was about to plunge into deep water when you
stopped him."
It appeared wholly ridiculous, but, even then, Lucille Haldane's defense
of Caryl irritated me. "He is responsible for all you are suffering, and
I can't forgive him for it. Was that not rather the action of a
lunatic?" I answered shortly.
A wave, which, breaking upon the flat stern, deluged my shoulders and
drenched my companion afresh, cut short the colloquy; but I caught sight
of a faint twinkle ahead, and restrained her with a wet hand when she
would have resumed the bailing. It was also by gentle force, for this
time she resisted, that I drew her down beside me so that I partly
shielded her from the spray, and the water came in as it willed as we
drove onwards through thick obscurity. Still, the light rose higher
ahead, and I strained my eyes to catch the first loom of Leyland's
island. Large boulders studded the approach to it, and we might come to
grief if we struck one of them.
It was now blowing viciously hard, the boat, half-buried in a white
smother, would scarcely steer, and the bright light from a window ahead
beat into my eyes, bewildering my vision. I could, however, dimly make
out pines looming behind it, and the beat of yeasty surges, which warned
me it would be risky to attempt a landing on that beach. There would be
shelter on the leeward side of the island, but a glance at the
balloon-like curves of the lifting mainsail showed that we could not
clear its end upon the course we were sailing. We must jibe, or swing
the mainsail over, which might result in a capsize.
"I want your help, Miss Haldane. Go forward and loose the rope you will
find on your right-hand side near the mast," I said; and as the girl
obeyed, the light shone more fully upon the dripping boat. I had a
momentary vision of several dark figures on the veranda, and then, while
I held my breath, saw only the slight form of the girl, with draggled
dress and wet hair streaming, swung out above the whiteness of rushing
foam as she wrenched at the halliard, which had fouled. Then the head of
the sail swung down, and as she came back panting, the steering demanded
all my attention.
"Hold fast to the coaming here," I said, as, dragging with might and
main at the sheet, I put the tiller up.
The craft twisted upon her heel, the sail swung aloft, and then, while
the sheet rasped through my fingers, chafing the skin from them, there
was a heavy crash as the boom lurched over. The boat swayed wildly under
its impetus, buried one side deep, and a shout, which might have been a
cry of consternation, reached me faintly. Then she shook herself free,
and reeled away into the blackness on a different course.
The head of the island swept by, and we shot into smoother water with a
spit of shingle ahead, on which I ran the craft ashore, and it was with
sincere relief I felt the shock of her keel upon the bottom. Lucille
Haldane said something I did not hear while she lay limp and wet and
silent in my arms, as, floundering nearly waist-deep, I carried her
ashore and then towards a path which led to the house. The night was
black, the way uneven, but perhaps because I was partly dazed I did not
set down my burden. She had helped me bravely, and it was only now, when
the peril had passed, I knew how very fearful I had been for her safety.
Indeed, it was hard to realize she was yet free from danger, and in
obedience to some unreasoning instinct I still held her fast, until she
slipped from my grasp. A few minutes later a light twinkled among the
trees, voices reached us, and Haldane, followed by several others, came
up with a lantern.
He stooped and kissed his daughter, then, turning, held out his hand to
me. "Thank God!--but where is Beatrice?" he said.
I told him, my teeth rattling as I spoke, and without further words we
went on towards the house. Nevertheless, the fervent handclasp and
quiver in Haldane's voice were sufficiently eloquent. When we entered
the house, where Mrs. Leyland took charge of Lucille, Haldane, asking
very few questions, looked hard at me. "I shall not forget this
service," he said quietly. "In the meantime get into some of Leyland's
things as quickly as you can. We are going to pull the boat ashore under
shelter of the island and requisition a wagon at Rideau's farm. I
believe we can reach the others by an old lumbermen's trail."
It was in vain I offered my services as guide. Haldane would not accept
them, and set out with the assistants whom, fearing some accident, he
had brought with him, while I had changed into dry clothing when his
daughter came in. What she had put on I do not know, but it was probably
something of Mrs. Leyland's intended for evening wear; and, in contrast
to her usual almost girlish attire, it became her. She had suddenly
changed, as it were, into a woman. Her dark lashes were demurely
lowered, but her eyes were shining.
"You are none the worse," I said, drawing out a chair for her; and she
laughed a little.
"None; and I even ventured to appear in this fashion lest you should
think so. I also wanted to thank you for taking care of me."
Lucille Haldane's voice was low and very pleasant to listen to, but I
wondered why I should feel such a thrill of pleasure as I heard it.
"Shouldn't it be the reverse? You deserve the thanks for the way you
helped me, though I am sorry it was necessary you should do what you
did. Let me see your hands," I said.
She tried to slip them out of sight, but I was too quick and, seizing
one, held it fast, feeling ashamed and sorry as I looked down at it. The
hard ropes had torn the soft white skin, and the rim of the bucket or
the coaming had left dark bruises. Admiration, mingled with pity, forced
me to add: "It was very cruel. I called you child. You are the bravest
woman I ever met!"
The damask tinge deepened a little in her cheeks, and she strove to draw
the hand away, but I held it fast, continuing: "No man could have
behaved more pluckily; but--out of curiosity--were you not just a little
frightened?"
The lashes fell lower, and I was not sure of the smile beneath them. "I
was, at first, very much so; but not afterwards. I thought I could trust
you to take care of me."
"I am afraid I seemed very brutal; but I would have given my life to
keep you safe," I said. "That, however, would have been very little
after all. It is not worth much just now to anybody."
I was ashamed of the speech afterwards, especially the latter part of
it, but it was wholly involuntary, and the events of the past few hours
had drawn, as it were, a bond of close comradeship between my companion
in peril and myself.
"I think you are wrong, but I am glad you have spoken, because I wanted
to express my sympathy, and feared to intrude," she said. "We heard that
bad times had overtaken you and your neighbors, and were very sorry.
Still, they cannot last forever, and you will not be beaten. You must
not be, to justify the belief father and I have in you."
The words were very simple, but there was a naive sincerity about them
which made them strangely comforting, while I noticed that Mrs. Leyland,
who came in just then, looked at us curiously. I sat out upon the
veranda until late that night, filled with a contentment I could not
quite understand. To have rendered some assistance to Beatrice Haldane's
sister and won her father's goodwill seemed, however, sufficient ground
for satisfaction, and I decided that this must be the cause of it.
The rest of the party returned overland next day, and during the
afternoon Haldane said to me: "I may as well admit that I have heard a
little about your difficulties, and Leyland has been talking to me. If
you don't mind the plain speaking, one might conclude that you are
somewhat hardly pressed. Well, it seems to me that certain incidents
have given me a right to advise or help you, and if you are disposed to
let the mortgaged property go, I don't think there would be any great
difficulty in finding an opening for you. There are big homesteads in
your region financed by Eastern capital."
He spoke with sincerity and evident goodwill; but unfortunately Haldane
was almost the last person from whom I could accept a favor. "I am,
while grateful, not wholly defeated, and mean to hold on," I said.
"Would you, for instance, quietly back out of a conflict with some
wealthy combine and leave your opponents a free hand to collect the
plunder?"
Haldane smiled dryly. "It would depend on circumstances; but in a
general way I hardly think I should," he said. "You will, however,
remember advice was mentioned, and I believe there are men who would
value my counsel."
I shook my head. "Heaven knows what the end will be; but I must worry
through this trouble my own way," I said.
Haldane was not offended, and did not seem surprised. "You may be wrong,
or you may be right; but if you and your neighbors are as hard to
plunder as you are slow to take a favor, the other gentlemen will
probably earn all they get," he said. "I presume you have no objections
to my wishing you good luck?"
It was the next evening when I met Beatrice Haldane beside the lake.
"And so you are going back to-morrow to your cattle?" she said.
"Yes," I answered. "It is the one course open to me, and the only work
for which I am fitted." And Miss Haldane showed a faint trace of
impatience.
"If you are sure that is so, you are wise," she said.
Before I could answer she moved away to greet Mrs. Leyland, and some
time elapsed before we met again, for I bade Leyland farewell next
morning.