THE MONSTER OF THE DEEP.
The following forenoon the _White Wings_ sailed out of the harbor at
Green's Landing, bearing beside her regular crew Miss Gale and the
girls. She was bound for Devil Island, and neither the girls nor their
chaperon had wished to be left behind.
It was a glorious summer day, with a medium breeze. As they ran out of
the harbor Frank noticed a man at work in a lap-streak sailboat.
It was the fellow with the broken nose and the crooked eye, and he
seemed to be preparing to get away. He did not even glance toward the
_White Wings_.
Merry called Browning's attention to the man.
"There is our amiable friend who gave us the warning," he said.
"That's so," nodded Bruce. "By jingoes! that's a peculiar boat he's in.
Look at her--long and narrow. Don't look as if she'd carry much sail
without upsetting."
"That's right," agreed Frank. "It is a queer boat, but she has mast
enough for a big spread of canvas."
They thought no more of the boat till they were in sight of Devil
Island. Then Bruce saw a small boat that lay low in the water and
carried her big spread of canvas in a reckless manner, although she was
laying over before the wind. This boat was literally flying through the
water, and it was plain enough that she was a wonderful sailer.
"Look here, Merry," said Bruce, "isn't that the lap-streak in which we
saw our friend, the cock-eyed man, as we were leaving Green's Landing?"
Frank had a glass at hand, and he quickly took a survey of the flying
sailboat.
"Sure as you are born!" he cried. "That is the very boat! How in the
name of all that is wonderful does she stand up under that spread of
sail?"
"Don't ask me," grunted Bruce. "I didn't suppose she could carry half as
much."
"Look at the speed of her!" exclaimed Hodge.
"There's only one man in the boat, is there, Merry?" asked Bruce.
"I believe there is," said Frank. "Our friend with the crooked eye is
steering."
"I don't see anybody else."
"Because the other person is keeping out of sight."
"What?"
"There is a man lying in the bottom of that boat."
"How do you know?"
"I saw him lift his head to look at us a few moments ago."
"That's strange."
"It's plain enough he doesn't want to be seen."
"What does it mean?"
"Don't know."
They watched the flying boat take the lead of them and saw it bear
toward a distant rocky point of the island ahead. Near that point some
sagging sheds could be seen. The small boat rounded the point and was
hidden behind the island.
"There is Bold Island, famed for its wonderful clams, over yonder," said
Frank. "Bold Island harbor must lay between that and Devil Island, but I
didn't find it on the chart. However, there is a passage between the two
islands which is perfectly safe at high water. We will run down in there
and drop anchor as near Devil Island as possible."
They did so, finding a sheltered cove where it was plain that a boat
could lay in any kind of a storm.
Close to them was the rocky shore of Devil Island. Beyond the rocks rose
a high bank, upon which was a gloomy tangle of woods. There was
something forbidding in the appearance of the island with the unpleasant
name.
Frank and Bruce were eager to get ashore at once. As soon as the sails
were cared for and things were ship-shape, they prepared to leave the
yacht.
In vain Paula had tried to draw Diamond into conversation. Jack would
answer her questions--he was extremely polite--but he made no attempt to
be entertaining. At last, just as Frank and Bruce were preparing to
enter the small boat, she left Jack and called to Inza:
"Come on!"
Then, to the astonishment of the boys, the girls came over to the rail
and asked to be assisted into the boat.
"Eh?" grunted Browning. "Where are you going?"
"With you," answered Paula. "We're not going to stay here and mope with
nobody to talk to. Aunt Abigail is reading in the cabin, and I don't
believe she will mind."
"Perhaps you had better ask her," said Frank, weakly.
"It isn't necessary," assured Inza, quickly. "Come, help me into the
boat. You lazy fellows, did you expect to get out of giving us a row? I
know you don't want to pull us around, but you can't get out of it."
And then she came over the rail and leaped lightly into the boat.
Browning aided Paula, after giving Frank a helpless look.
"We can't get out of it," whispered Merry. "We'll row them round a
while, and then we'll bring them back to the yacht."
Bruce had brought out a repeating rifle from Frank's supply of arms in
the cabin, and that was placed in the prow of the boat. Both girls sat
on the stern seat.
With a double set of oars the boys pulled off from the yacht. It was a
strange spectacle to see Bruce Browning handling an oar, but he had been
a famous all-round athlete when he first entered Yale, and he had not
forgotten how to row.
They asked the girls where they wished to go, and Paula answered:
"Oh, anywhere."
Under other circumstances, Browning might not have been so willing to
pull at an oar, but he knew Diamond was gnawing his heart out, and the
big fellow had developed a sudden satisfaction in tormenting the
Virginian.
A distant island attracted the girls. On a ledge near it was a flock of
white gulls, covering the ledge so it looked as if it were a mass of
snow. They pulled toward the island.
The gulls proved shy and keen of sight, for they began to leave the
ledge shortly after the boat drew away from the yacht, and half the
distance to the island had not been covered before not a gull remained
on the ledge.
"Didn't even get near enough for a real good shot with the rifle,"
grunted Bruce. "I'd like to get a shot at something."
Then he gave a cry of astonishment, took in his oars quickly, and caught
up the rifle.
"What is it?" asked Frank.
"Look! look!" exclaimed the big Yale man, rising to his feet with the
rifle in his hands. "There is a target for me!"
They looked in the direction indicated, and they saw something that at
first seemed like a black rock. But it moved--it was swimming slowly
along the surface of the water.
"A whale, by Jove!" shouted Merriwell. "Let him have it, Bruce!"
Browning lifted the rifle and took careful aim.
Crack!
He did not miss his mark. The whale was seen to give a sudden start, and
then, stung by the bullet, the monster of the deep rushed straight at
the boat!
"Look out!"
"He's coming!"
"My goodness!"
Not till he saw the whale start straight for the boat did Bruce Browning
realize what a foolish thing he had done. It seemed that the monster was
bent on the destruction of the boat and its occupants.
Merriwell uttered the first cry, which was a warning to Bruce, who was
still standing, rifle in hand. Frank was going to use the oars, and he
knew he would throw Bruce into the bottom of the boat by starting
suddenly without warning.
The two girls uttered the other exclamations. Paula screamed and covered
her face with her hands, while Inza turned pale and stared at the
onrushing monster.
Frank fully realized their peril. He knew that it meant certain death to
them all if the whale struck the boat, and there seemed no possible
escape.
Bruce dropped down and Frank gave a surge at the oars that made the boat
give a leap like a thing of life. Then Merriwell pulled as never before
had he rowed, not even in the nerve-straining, soul-killing college
races against Harvard.
Jump! jump! jump!--how he made the boat leap through the water! He was
making the boat leap to get out of the whale's course.
Bruce tried to get his oars into the rowlocks and aid, but, for once in
his life, at least, the big fellow had lost all his coolness, and he
lost an oar overboard.
"He'll strike us!"
"We're lost!"
"Hold fast!"
Frank continued to pull, but he was ready to drop the oars and make a
leap for Inza the moment the boat was struck.
"I'll do my best to save her!" he mentally exclaimed.
Still he knew the shock would hurl them far into the water, while the
boat would be shattered in pieces. He might be stunned--he might be
instantly killed.
For all that Inza stared straight at the whale, it is probable that she
realized their terrible peril far better than Paula, who was so
frightened that she covered her eyes with her hands.
Frank began to realize that there was a possibility of getting out of
the way if the whale did not change its course. He strained every
nerve--he pulled for life.
"Thank Heaven!"
Browning gasped the words, for the monster had not swerved from its
original course, and it dashed past the boat some distance astern.
Even then Frank was not satisfied that the danger was past. He expected
to see the whale stop, turn about and rush at them again.
Nothing of the kind happened. The monster was headed straight for the
distant passage that led out between the islands toward the lower bay
and the open sea. He seemed to be in a great hurry, too, for he made the
water fly as he sped along, the waves in his wake causing the little
boat to rock when he had passed.
Merriwell stopped pulling and sat watching the whale, never uttering a
word till it had passed out of sight far down the bay. Then he turned
and observed:
"It's plain enough that he doesn't consider it healthy around here, and
he is in a hurry to get away."
There was a smile on his face, and he seemed quite undisturbed by what
had happened.
"Oh, Frank!" cried Inza, "what if he had struck us?"
"He would have bumped his nose."
"Oh, how can you joke now!"
"Now is the time to joke. I didn't have time to think of a joke a little
while ago."
Browning dug himself out of the bottom of the boat, hoisted his huge
body to a seat, and drew a deep breath of relief.
"A man who shoots at a whale with a rifle is a thundering fool!" he
observed.
"And a man who tells him to shoot is another," laughed Frank.
"That is my first adventure with a whale," said the big Yale man, "and,
if I have my way about it, it will be my last."
"Is--is he really gone?" faltered Paula, looking around.
"Yes, Miss Benjamin," assured Frank, "he has departed in the direction
of Greenland."
"And he didn't touch the boat?"
"If he had we'd be enjoying a swimming match for the yacht now."
"If he had," said Inza, "some of us would have been killed right away,
and the rest of us would have been drowned."
"Let's go back to the yacht!" urged the trembling Paula, her voice
choking.
"I am quite ready," said Inza. "I don't care about going over to that
island now."
So Frank pulled back to the floating oar, and then the boat was headed
toward the _White Wings_.
Merriwell did his best to restore the girls' spirits. He joked and
laughed, and before the yacht was reached he had almost convinced them
that they had been in no great danger.
"But, oh, it gave me such a fright!" said Paula. "Just to see that huge
creature coming through the water straight toward us! It was awful!"
Frank was chosen as the one to relate the adventure to Miss Gale, for
the girls were aware that she might scold them for leaving the yacht
without her consent, and Frank could make it all right with her.
Hans was on deck, but he had not seen their adventure with the whale,
although he had heard the report of the rifle, for he cried as they
approached:
"Vot you shooted? I heard der gun ven id fired you off."
"We shot a large seabird," answered Frank; "but the varmint got away
from us."
"Vot kindt up a pird vos a varmint?" asked Hans. "You don'd remember dot
I haf efer seen von, do I?"
"It is large enough to make a fish chowder," explained Merry.
"Vot vos I gifin' you?" cried Hans. "Who efer heart a pird uf dot could
make a vish-chowter! I vos guyin' you, I oxpect."
Browning threw him the painter as they came alongside, and soon the
girls were safely on the yacht.
"Come back as soon as you have fixed it with Miss Gale," said Bruce,
"and we will go onto the island and investigate."
Frank nodded and then went below. In a few minutes he came out laughing
and assured the girls that it was all right. Then he dropped into the
boat again, and soon he and Browning were on Devil Island.
They pulled the boat up on the beach and made it fast. Frank took the
rifle, and Bruce looked at his revolver, which he had slipped into his
pocket before leaving the yacht the first time. The _White Wings_ was
riding at anchor within easy speaking distance of the shore.
"Which way shall we go?" asked Bruce.
"The buildings are on the other side of the island," said Merry. "Let's
go straight across."
"All right."
They found a path by which they could climb the bank, making it plain
that human beings had traveled on the island not a little at some time,
even if the place was deserted then.
Following the path a short distance, they came to three small camps
built of logs. The camps were not in a very pleasant location, although
it was a sheltered spot.
After looking around the huts a few minutes, they turned from the path
and struck straight up through the woods, which were thick and dark.
Beneath their feet twigs crackled and the dead leaves of a year before
sometimes rustled where they had piled together but had not rotted. The
woods were dark and in places the ground was covered by moss, so that
their feet made not a sound.
Higher and higher they climbed, till they came out into a natural
opening that was surrounded by the gloomy trees. This seemed close to
the highest ground on the island, which could be seen rising rocky and
bare through the trees at one side of the glade.
And in the midst of the glade was a grave that had not been made many
months, and a granite stone stood at the head.
"It's the grave the cock-eyed man told us of!" exclaimed Frank. "Let's
look at the stone."
They approached the grave, and Frank bent down to look at the stone. As
the cock-eyed man had said, on it were the words:
"Sacred to the memory of Rawson Denning."
As Merry was looking at the headstone it seemed that a voice in the air
above them hoarsely whispered:
"Dead and buried!"