north told of a heavy wind approaching, the uncomfortable norther
which sweeps at periods over the reef during the winter months. The
water, however, was always warm; the close proximity of the Gulf Stream
kept it near the temperature of eighty all through the year. While he
rested, he was aware of a movement in the sea near him, and he sniffed
the air uneasily. The smell of a shark was plain in his nostrils.
To lie quietly in the sea at night with a shark in the vicinity was
to invite almost certain destruction. To thresh about aimlessly would
surely attract attention from the deck above, and bring death in the
shape of a rifle-bullet, or, worse yet, a boat, which would catch
him before he could gain the _Sea-Horse_. He left the bar in the
_Sayonara's_ side, and, grasping the hook, swam strongly to the bobstay.
Silently the mighty black hauled himself clear of the water, just as
a long shadow, darker than the surrounding sea passed beneath him,
leaving a long line of fire to mark its passage. He had cleared with
about a second to spare. The sea-monster passed on down the tide toward
the open ocean, but Bahama Bill waited before slipping back again to
his task.
In a short time he worked the next seam; then, taking the thin cotton
line he had fast about him as a belt, he unwound it, pulled the last of
the calking oakum out, and replaced it quickly with the line the entire
length of the destroyed seam, leaving the ends clear to be jerked forth
at a moment's notice. It would at once let a stream of water into the
hull of the yacht which would test her pumps to their fullest capacity,
and where he had worked there was hardly a trace of violence. A few
augur-holes would have accomplished the end more readily, but they
would remain as telltale evidence. The starting of a seam and butts
could not be proven against such careful work.
At the right minute the wreckers would pull the cord, and then it would
be--stand by the pumps or run her ashore. All they would have to do
now would be to follow her about the reef until she arrived at a spot
conveniently far from a tugboat or dry dock, follow her like a shark
until, wounded and unable to keep the sea, they would fall upon her the
instant her crew and owner would leave her, or call for help.
Bahama Bill had just put the finishing touches upon his excellent work,
and was resting, preparatory to swimming back to the _Sea-Horse_,
where he knew Sanders and the rest were awaiting his arrival with some
impatience. He had his bar jammed in a seam, and was hanging upon it,
when the mate of the _Sayonara_ happened to peer over the side.
The wrecker saw him just in time, and sank from view. In doing so he
made a slight disturbance in the sea, and the phosphorus flared and
trailed from him, giving him the long shape beneath the surface common
to a fish of about his length.
"I reckon I'll take a whack at them fellers swimmin' around us," said
the sailor to Smart, "seems to me there might be a barracuda, or
jew-fish, loafing about. I'm going to get the harpoon."
Bill, instead of making good his getaway, at this moment, hung easily
on to his resting-place and poked his head clear about the time the
mate had ceased speaking. Seeing that the head over the rail had gone,
the wrecker started to pull his bar clear, and had just shoved off from
the yacht's side, when the mate arrived with the iron.
The long Yankee had been accustomed to spearing sword-fish upon his
native coast in summer, and he hesitated not an instant, but hurled
the iron at the form below him. As he did so Bill saw the movement and
gave a mighty shoot ahead. It saved his life by a fraction of a second,
but the iron struck him fair upon the ankle and passed through between
his heel-cord, or tendon, and the bone. He was hung as securely as a
quarter of beef upon a hook.
"I got him," yelled the mate. "Lend me a hand. Captain Smart."
"Killed him outright," said the captain. "He makes no flurry for a
heavy fish. Must have struck his backbone."
They put their weight upon the line, and it came in easily, hauling as
though a log were fastened to the iron. And in the meantime Bahama Bill
was whirling over, trying to think of some way to cut clear.
Still holding to his bar, the giant wrecker came swashing alongside
the yacht, making a lot of foam and fire, which completely hid his
identity. By good luck the men above him stopped hauling just when his
great weight began to put a heavy strain upon the line.
Captain Smart, not wishing to trust the thin runner, went for a heavy
line to make a bowline to slip over the fish's tail and heave him
aboard shipshape Bill jammed the jimmy into a seam and worked it
far enough in to get a strong hold. His head was half-submerged, but
he held on while the strain upon the harpoon lifted his leg clear of
the sea. His leg was numbed from the wound, and when they slipped the
bowline down upon it he knew there was no use of further resistance.
The pain was intense when they put the line to a tackle, and he gave
up. Throwing the bar clear to make away with the last evidence of his
work, he let them haul him feet foremost into the air and hang him
dangling over the rail.
"A nigger, by all that's holy!" exclaimed the long mate. "Now, how in
the name did----"
"The mate of the wrecker," said Smart, slacking the giant down upon the
deck and gazing at him. "Hooked in the ankle, all right and seamanlike.
Is he drowned?"
"Naw, I ain't drowned," said Bill, staggering to his feet, the iron
from the harpoon still transfixing his leg. "Yo' put a stopper on that
barb, and pull that iron out. Cayn't a man take a swim without you
fellows huntin' him like a bloody fish?"
The mate offered his apologies, somewhat tinged with humour, for the
mistake, and, being entirely without suspicion, went below to get a
stiff drink for his victim. The giant black stood gazing down at the
yacht captain for a moment, and as the wound did not bleed to any
extent, he refused to have any further fuss made over it.
"Aren't you afraid of sharks--to be swimming about this harbour in the
night?" asked Smart.
"No, I ain't scared o' much," said Bill, "an' I takes it all in good
part, yo' ketchin' me the way yo' did. I don't mind the little hole in
mah laig, but I do mind bein' h'isted up feet fo'most. I don't allow no
liberties wid me body, 'n' ef yo' had dun it a purpose, I sho' would
have tu wake yo' up some--but I takes no offence."
The long mate appeared with the liquor, and the wrecker drank it down.
"Ah'm goin' now," said Bill, and without further ado he made a plunge
over the rail and was gone. A faint trail of fire showed his rapid
progress toward the _Sea-Horse_, and his captors were left alone again
on deck.
"That was something strange--what?" said the mate.
"'Twas a bit out of the ordinary," said Smart, thinking of the
strangeness of the scene, the dark night, the disturbed water, and
the sudden appearance of a giant negro hauled on deck feet foremost
by a bowline run over a whale-iron. "You better keep an anchor-watch
to-night. Some of those fellows might steal half our brasswork before
morning. I'm going to turn in. Good night."
II
In the brisk wind of the failing norther, the _Sayonara_ hoisted
her snowy canvas. The mainsail, taut as a board and white as the
coral-beach, stood with luff cutting the wind and leach cracking gently
while the boom-tackles held it like a hound in leash. The foresail was
run up, and the word was passed aft that the ship was ready.
Mr. Dunn stood near the companion and chatted to Miss Harsha, while
Mrs. Dunn entertained two marine officers from the yard with tales of
the yacht. The reception aboard the day before had been a success, and
these remaining guests were to spend a week cruising to the northward
as far as Boca Grande.
Dunn was a keen fisherman, and would try for tarpon, the giant herring
of the reef.
"I tell you, Miss Marion," said he, "it's a great sport. It takes skill
to land one of those fellows, skill to hook him, skill to play him, and
skill to kill 'em--are you a good fisherman?"
Miss Marion, pug-nosed, fat, and not entirely good-natured, thought a
moment. Not upon fish, but concerning certain officers she had known
lately.
"I--er--I really don't quite know, you know. I never tried it. It must
be something grand. It appeals to me, the idea of fishing. It must be
awfully exciting when you've hooked him." And her eyes roved just for a
moment in the direction of Mrs. Dunn and her friends.
"She's hove short, sir," said Smart, coming near. "Shall we break her
out and let her go? The tide is just right, and the wind a close reach
up the Hawk's Channel."
"Er--yes. I don't know. Well, yes, let her go. What's the odds?"
murmured Dunn, losing interest suddenly. "You'll excuse me, Miss
Marion." And he went down the companionway. "When in doubt, take a
drink," he repeated to himself. "Maybe I'll run into some people who
think of something besides their--their-----" but he left the sentence
unfinished as he drank off a dram of gin and lime-juice. Dunn was a bit
of a sport at bottom, and his wife's friends were not--not of the kind
he was used to. It was hard to run a yacht as big as his schooner for
the amusement of silly women, and even more silly men.
Captain Smart hove up his anchor, hoisted both jib and staysail, and
while the trim little ship broke off to port, the white-ducked crew
neatly catted her hook and stretched up her topsails, sending out a
big balloon forward which bellied out and sent her racing through the
northwest passage.
It was a beautiful day, and the sun shining upon the white hull made
a very pretty picture of the fabric rushing through a whitening path
upon the blue water. The solid-silver trophies in the saloon were made
fast in their places, for the vessel was leaning heavily away from the
breeze, and Dunn locked his little buffet and came on deck to join his
guests.
The men of the _Sea-Horse_ watched the yacht until she was hull-down to
the northward, her canvas alone marking the spot of her whereabouts,
which was changing at the rate of ten knots an hour. But they were in
no particular hurry to follow.
Sanders had found out where she was bound, and it was not until late in
the afternoon, when the sun was setting, that the _Sea-Horse_ hoisted
her dirty mainsail. Then she stood away for Cuba, passing out by the
Sand Key Light into the Gulf Stream.
When darkness fell she was shortened down and allowed to drift along
slowly with the current, which took her many miles before the following
day.
In the morning the _Sayonara_ stood in through the pass of Boca Grande.
It is here that the tarpon, the giant herring of the south sea, makes
his entrance to the shallow waters of the Florida reef. Dunn lost no
time engaging guides and preparing for the kill. In the waters of the
reef one does not catch fish; he kills them. A tarpon is not usually
eaten, and is caught solely for the excitement of the fight. Nearly all
the great game fish are equally unpalatable, therefore the sportsman
has long ceased to speak of his catch, which in other waters is useful,
and generally brought home for food.
The small boats were gotten overboard, and the party, made up in pairs
with a guide to each, headed into the pass. Boats from the floating
hotel back among the keys joined them, and during the forenoon the fish
struck.
Dunn managed to land two huge fellows, but the boat containing Miss
Harsha and the major of marines caught nothing. If there was an
attempted killing, it was only witnessed by the guide, and he, being
a discreet "Conch," had the good taste to remain silent for ever
afterward.
Late in the evening, after the fish had stopped striking, the party
sat upon the deck of the _Sayonara_ enjoying the soft air of the
semi-tropical sea. Far away to the southward the sail of a single
vessel rose above the sapphire rim of the horizon. The air was warm,
and felt almost oppressive. There was evidently going to be a change in
the weather, and Smart noticed it at once.
"The glass has fallen considerable since morning," said he to Dunn,
"and the pass is not the best anchorage in the world. I don't exactly
like the idea of lying so far off."
"We'll stay as long as the fish bite," said Dunn. "Now that I've gotten
here you'll not scare me away until there's something happened. Give
her plenty of scope and let her ride it out, if it blows. A bit of
motion will do the party good, shake 'em up and put some sense into
them. Stay where you are."
"All right, sir," said Captain Smart. "I don't want to cut out the
sport, but if I know anything of the weather by signs, it'll sure blow
some before this time to-morrow. The warm weather may make the fish
come in, but it means something back of it. It's too late in the season
for such warm air up here, or it's too early. We'll catch it from the
southeast, and we'll have a nasty sea where we are lying."
"Let her blow," said Dunn, "but when in doubt, take a drink." He went
below.
"I do so wish we would have a terrible storm--then you could have a
chance to show how superior a U.S. marine officer is in an emergency,"
said Miss Harsha, smiling up at the major, who had noticed the
threatened weather and had heard part of the conversation between Dunn
and his captain.
The major leered at her. He was trying to think how a pug-nose and
freckles would inspire him at the psychological moment. It seemed to
cause him an effort, for he spoke wearily in reply.
"You remember what we did at Guantanamo?" he said.
"Yes, but I have heard of nothing else since the Spanish War," said the
girl sweetly. "You surely have something else in the record of your
excellent corps, for I know personal bravery exists everywhere in it. I
love heroes--men who can do things. It's foolish, no doubt, but, then,
most women are foolish. What use would your beautiful uniform be to us
if we were not?"
The major gazed out over the darkening sea and watched the tiny speck
of white where the single sail rose above the horizon. He was tired and
thirsty, and he had seen Dunn go below.
"We are to have a fish-dinner--I must go and get out of these
fish-killing togs," said Miss Harsha, and she left him to follow his
inclinations.
The night was dark and quiet, the sea murmuring distantly under the
black pall which crept up from the southward. The glass fell lower, and
Smart ranged twenty fathoms of cable to let out when the wind struck.
He also got his heavy anchor ready to let go, with sixty more, and made
ready with hemp-stoppers to take the strain off the bitts when she
surged.
There were only four fathoms of water in the part of the pass where
they lay, and with a great scope to both anchors he felt certain that
he could hold on unless some accident happened.
The sea would not break where he lay, on account of the formation
of the reef beyond, and if he could get all his line out before she
started to drag, he could hold her without great danger, although she
would do some lively jumping if it blew heavy. A man on watch would
report the first change for the worse.
By midnight all was silent aboard. The anchor-light burned brightly,
and its rays fell upon the form of the man upon the forecastle, who
nodded drowsily. The calm continued, and the great flame from the
lighthouse at the pass sent long streaks into the darkness.
Coming along with the flood-tide and just going fast enough to keep
steering-way upon her, a small vessel headed into the pass, burning no
lights and heading close to where the _Sayonara_ lay. At her helm a
giant negro sprawled, and upon her deck several men lay in attitudes of
great ease.
"She lays still, like mit a ghost," said Heldron, peering at the yacht.
"Good graft," said Sam, straining his eyes to catch every detail.
"I reckon we'll git to work on her," said Sanders. "Lower down those
jibs and slack the anchor away easy when I luff her under the lee o'
that p'int yander. How is it, Bill? Do you feel like swimming to-night?"
Bahama Bill, the mate of the wrecker, growled out an assent. His
leg was sore from his experience with the iron in the hands of the
_Sayonara's_ mate, and his feelings were exceedingly ruffled from
certain personal affronts he had endured from the yacht's owner. Could
he cook? Could his wife, the renowned Julia, wash? Well, he would ask a
few questions some day after settling his account with the yacht--maybe.
At present the cotton line he had placed in the opened seam was ready
to haul out. Then he would witness some work upon that yacht's deck.
There would be something doing.
He grinned as he thought of the trim white duck clothes. How they
would look after twenty-four hours' work at the pumps! Even the
yacht's captain, who seemed to be something of a sailor in spite of
his wonderful rig, would have something to do besides sitting about
like a well-dressed monkey. And as for those officers, the guests of
Dunn--well, he had already had dealings with them, and once spent the
night in the "cooler" for ruffling a couple of their Jap messmen.
"Yo' kin lower down the starbo'd boat when we lets go," said Bahama
Bill; "'n' I wants one o' you fellers to drap to lor'ard toe pick me
up, fer I'll be comin' mighty fast--see?"
Sam understood, and a few minutes later the _Sea-Horse_ had hooked the
reef close in the shelter of the key and about a mile distant from the
yacht. Her mainsail was left standing, in case of sudden need. They
could lower it any minute after the job was done. If anything happened
they could stand out in less time than it takes to tell of it, for the
head-sails were all ready to hoist and the anchor just holding. Six
strokes upon the brakes, and she would go clear. Then, with everything
drawing, she would stand through the pass.
The mate dropped into the small boat, and Sam rowed him rapidly ahead
of the yacht. He would drop overboard and drift and swim quickly down
with the current, while the small boat would circle around at a great
distance and out of sight to pick him up after he had finished and
drifted astern.
Swimming strongly with a deep breast-stroke which made no foam or
noise, Bill slipped through the black sea like a fish. In a short time
he gained the anchor-chain, which strained out ahead with the force of
the tide upon the hull.
Resting for a few moments and listening to make sure the man on deck
had not seen him, he let himself drift along the vessel's side until he
reached the end of his line. This he pulled out of the seam and let go.
It opened her for a length of thirty feet--a thin, nasty leak, which
would be hard to find and impossible to stop without docking. It was
the work of an expert wrecker, and he grinned to himself as he let the
current take him away.
Not a mark had he made upon the beautiful white hull, and yet she was
even now filling rapidly through seams which had been carefully calked.
Of course, if the weather remained calm enough for them to work a small
boat alongside and study her bilge a couple of feet below the water,
they would come upon the seam. But the weather was not going to remain
calm very long. He knew it would be blowing hard before daybreak,
before there would be any light to see her smooth side below the water
where the green of her copper paint had hardly been disturbed.
He had passed his knife along the seam after the line was removed, and
it was open. His work was done.
Sam picked him up half a mile astern, and they rowed silently back
aboard the _Sea-Horse_. All the others had turned in, and they did
likewise, after lowering down the mainsail and paying out enough cable
to hold the vessel should it blow before they awoke. The small boat
was towed astern, for they were well back behind the key, and quite
sheltered.
In the still hours of the early morning Captain Smart was awakened
by the unusual sound of water washing about in the yacht's bilge. He
roused himself and listened. The first note of the rising wind droned
through the rigging, and the man on watch came to his door to call him.
In a moment he was on deck.
The night was still dark, although it was nearly four o'clock. The wind
had come from the southeast, and it was freshening every moment. The
hands were called, and the cable given to the anchor while the heavy
bower was dropped, that she might set back upon them both.
There was plenty of room, and she brought up nicely, riding easily to
the fast-increasing sea. She was heading it, and, therefore, had not
begun to plunge enough to wake the party aft. But every moment the
whistling snore aloft told of what was coming.
After seeing that his ship was snug and safe for the time being, Smart
went below to get into his oilskins. It had not yet started to rain,
but it was coming, and he would not have time to leave the deck if
anything went wrong.
While he sat upon his bunk-edge he again heard the washing sound from
below. It came loud and insistent, not to be confounded with the wash
from the sea outside. At that moment the mate came into his room.
"What's the matter below, sir?" he asked. "Sounds like we've got water
in her. Shall I try the pumps?"
"Well, if we do, it will frighten every one. It's going to blow a
regular snorter. There can't be any water in her--she's tight as a
bottle. You might sound her, but don't let any one see you do it."
Before Smart had buttoned on his sou'wester, the mate came below again.
He had a naturally long face and seemed solemn even in his most happy
moment. Now he pulled a face as long as a rope-yarn.
"Four feet of water in her, sir," he said, and he looked at Smart as
though that officer had said something to hurt him.
Smart gazed at him for a moment-in perplexity. He saw his mate was
sober. He was too good a sailor to come aft with any silly story. He
knew there was something wrong, and he sprang up the companion.
In the rush of the wind on deck all sounds from below were, of course,
silenced. The droning roar in the rigging as squall after squall tore
past made it evident that it was beginning to blow some. Forms appeared
aft, and Dunn came staggering along the rail to the mainmast followed
by his male guests.
"Will she hold on all right?" called Dunn to his captain, who now stood
at the pump-well with the sounding-line in his hand. It was too dark
for the owner to notice the skipper's movements, but Smart put the line
out of sight.
"Oh, yes, she'll hold all right," bawled the captain. "You better go
below for a bit, or else put on your rain-clothes; it's going to wet up
here soon."
The men stood near the mast for a few moments, and, seeing that nothing
unusual was taking place, began edging aft again. A spurt of rain sent
them down the cabin companion, and Smart dropped his line into the
well. It showed a depth of four and a half feet of water below, or just
up to the cabin floor.
Something must be done at once. All hands were called to the pumps, and
the clank of the brakes warned the owner that all was not well. He came
on deck with his guests, and as they were now in their rain-clothes,
Smart requested them to get busy. He would need all the men he could
get to keep her clear.
Daylight dawned upon a wild sea to the eastward. The reef roared in a
deep thunder, but the heaviest sea was shut off from them. Streaming
scud fled past above them with the gale, and the mastheads seemed to
pierce a gray sky, which hurled itself to the northward at a terrific
rate.
The sea that struck the _Sayonara_ was short, and had a great velocity,
but it was not high enough to make her plunge bows under. She rode it
with short jerks and leaps, smashing into it and sending a storm of
flying water as high as her crosstrees. This the wind hurled aft and
away in a heavy shower.
She was holding to one hundred fathoms on one, and seventy fathoms upon
her largest anchor, and as the sea was shallow where she lay, the taut
chains stretched right out ahead, like two stiff bars of metal.
"How did it happen--what is it?" Dunn kept asking; but his skipper
could give no response. All he knew was that she was filling fast, so
fast that they could just keep her about even with the leak. It was
three hours before it showed less than four feet of water below, and by
that time the men were getting tired.
Smart told off the watches, and sent one below for a rest while the
makeshift cook tried to get all hands some coffee. They were going to
have plenty of work cut out for them, and they needed all the rest and
refreshment they could get.
With only one watch at the pumps the water began to gain slowly upon
them, and by noon it was as high as ever again. The yacht plunged
heavily under this extra weight, and Smart gave her every link he had
aboard, afterward putting heavy stoppers upon both cables to take the
strain of the setback from the bitts.