ON A STORMY CRUISE
It was late on the following forenoon when the Meadow-Brook Girls might
have been observed towing the "Red Rover" out from the creek in which it
had been anchored. They decided that it was high time to leave.
During their absence, and while they were frightening the Tramp Club
with sheets draped over sticks and carried high above their heads, Tommy
and Margery had been having an exciting experience. They had been
anxiously peering out of the cabin, when after an hour or so they
discovered a canoe approaching the scow. At first they thought it one of
their own party who was paddling the canoe. They soon discovered that it
was a man. The girls were too frightened to do more than watch him in
almost breathless silence. But when the man climbed aboard the after
deck, after satisfying himself that the boat was deserted, they decided
that it was time to move.
Tommy uttered a scream. Margery followed suit and their cries had been
heard by the returning ghost party. The man did not tarry to see who had
screamed. He sprang into the creek, where, pushing his canoe ahead of
him, he ran down the stream. He had then leaped in and had given the
paddle the first swift sweep when discovered by Harriet and her party.
Miss Elting was really alarmed when she heard their story. She decided
to sit up all night and watch. Jane and Harriet kept watch with her.
They did not retire until daylight, after which they got a few hours of
sleep. Then came a late breakfast and the preparations for departure.
They were going back to the other side of the lake, where they intended
to tie up at their old anchorage near the main camp of the Tramp Club.
After dragging the houseboat out and finding a suitable anchorage,
Harriet rowed over to the mainland. Running up to the farmhouse she
telephoned to the nearest town for a launch to come down and give them a
tow. Billy Gordon and his motor boat were not on hand for the purpose
this morning.
When about eleven o'clock a launch came down the coast in search of them
the wind had risen and the lake was rough. It was an old boat and did
not look as though it could stand much weather. The man running the boat
said there was rather a stiff sea on the other side of the island, but
he thought he could make it. Miss Elting said she would give him five
dollars if he would take them across. He made fast to the "Red Rover"
and started.
Once they had rounded the island they did not think the waves would be
very high. Being protected by a point of land they did not get the full
force of the wind. Nor did they realize what a chance they had taken
until they had gotten well out into the lake. There the gale struck them
with full force. Harriet grew really alarmed. She feared the "Red Rover"
was not strong enough to stand up under it. Margery was seasick and the
others also felt the effects of the gale.
The "Red Rover" was now pitching more violently than ever. Jane was
gazing at the launch wide-eyed, expecting every moment to see it take a
dive, not to come up again. Everything movable in the "Red Rover's"
cabin was being hurled about. The oil stove long since had tipped over,
glass was being smashed, dishes broken, pieces of each of these were
rattling over the floor. Miss Elting decided that they would be better
off outside.
Harriet protested against their going on the upper deck, saying that
they might be blown off into the lake. Jane was protecting herself by
clinging to a rope. The awning suddenly ballooned and went up into the
air, taking some of the awning posts with it. Miss Elting had no
further desire to go up on deck after that. With her charges she kept
close to the deck house, where they shielded themselves from the wind as
much as possible.
"He's turning round," shouted Jane, with hands to lips.
"Don't let him. He will upset us."
Jane yelled at the man in the launch, who--not daring to brave the seas
any longer, was slowly turning his launch about. He shook his head,
evidently thinking she was ordering him to continue. Seeing that her
words were of no avail, Crazy Jane leaped down to the forward deck and
casting the tow line from the cleat, flung it out on the water.
"Hook on the other end and tow us back if you want to. Don't you know
better than to turn us around in all this storm?" she yelled.
The boatman ran up to the stern where Harriet was doing her best to keep
the boat's head to the wind, but was slowly losing ground. She motioned
to him to keep off and beckoned to him to cast the tow line to her so
she could make it fast at that end. Harriet had forgotten that there was
no rudder at the other end. But the boatman persisted in getting up
close to the houseboat. All at once what Harriet had feared did happen.
The launch was picked up on a heavy swell and hurled against the
houseboat. There followed the sound of crunching woodwork. The launch
began to fill with water.
"Jump!" shouted Captain Harriet. "You're sinking."
The boatman clung to his craft a moment longer, then leaped into the
lake. He was not a good swimmer, but fortunately the waves were rolling
toward the houseboat, carrying him in that direction. Harriet had
dropped the tiller and was watching him narrowly. There was no rope
ready, the one that usually lay at hand having been lost with the
launch, which slowly settled in the water, then disappeared.
The girl saw that the man was likely to be hurled against the side of
the houseboat. She snatched up a boathook and when he came within reach
thrust it out to him.
"Hold steady until that wave passes, then I'll pull you in," she called.
The blow from the waves took nearly all the breath out of the man, but
as soon as it had passed, Harriet hauled him quickly aboard.
Miss Elting reported that the "Red Rover" was leaking, that the launch
had crushed in a plank on the side.
"Stuff clothing in the hole," ordered Jane. "Here you, Mr. Man, please
go in there and see if you can't nail up the broken place. You've got
to do something or you'll never set foot on land again."
Off in the camp of the Tramp Club there was great excitement. The boys
had discovered the craft laboring in the heavy sea, and as it drew
nearer to their side of the lake, they discovered that it was none other
than the "Red Rover."
"They're in trouble, boys. Billy, will your boat stand it?" asked
George.
"As long as we can keep the water out of her."
"Then let's get aboard. No, you fellows stay here. There's a load of
them out there to fetch back if we ever get close enough to take them
off."
The motors were working, but no sooner had the two boys gotten clear of
the little pier at their camp than the engines suddenly stopped and the
boat drifted back.
"There's a short circuit somewhere," called Billy. "Hold her. I'll find
it and we'll be going very shortly."
"Hurry, Billy! They're in an awful mess over there," urged George.
It seemed as though the "Red Rover" must be torn to pieces. The boat was
now drifting broadside to the waves. Every large wave would break
against the side, then leap clear over the boat. Every wave seemed
powerful enough to crush in the sides. But they came out dripping,
glistening red after each onslaught. The boatman had succeeded in
patching the rent caused by the collision, but the upper deck was
leaking in many places. The "Red Rover" had been strained almost to the
breaking-up point. It was now fairly wallowing in the foaming sea
dashing against its weather side. Harriet had given up trying to do
anything with the rudder. She could not keep the bow of the boat around
to the seas. It persisted in lying broadside on, where it took the full
force of the waves.
"There comes a boat," cried Jane, who had been on the upper deck, waving
a sheet as a signal that they were in distress. All hands peered toward
the mainland. They saw a launch making slow progress toward them. The
little boat seemed to be standing with her bow in the air most of the
time. First it would rear then plunge. As it neared them they saw that
it was Billy Gordon's boat, bearing himself and George Baker.
"Cast a line! I don't dare get near," shouted Billy when close enough to
make his voice heard.
"We haven't any. Cast your own," answered Harriet.
George did the casting. He failed three times but on the fourth cast
Harriet caught the line and quickly made it fast to a cleat at the
forward end being nearly swept overboard in the effort. The "Red Rover"
straightened out on her course. For a moment the launch seemed to be
losing ground rather than gaining, then slowly it began to pick up and
shortly after that was making slow progress toward shore.
There were many spectators to that battle, none of whom believed that
either launch or houseboat, ever would reach the land. Other boats
refused to venture out in such a gale. Even the big boats remained tied
up. So much water was taken aboard by the launch that George was fully
occupied in bailing. A piece of oilcloth had been thrown over the
engines and battery coils to keep these from getting soaked and thus
causing a stoppage of the engine.
For two hours did launch and houseboat labor through the seas, fighting
every inch of the way. Harriet's arms ached from handling the tiller.
She was wet to the skin but clung steadily to her work. The boatman was
kept inside to watch for and stop leaks, of which there were many before
the voyage came to an end. At last the "Red Rover" slipped into
comparatively calm water, amid a chorus of yells from the boys on shore.
George got up and waved his cap to the girls. They answered the salute
with three cheers, then Billy pulled the scow up to her former
anchorage, and in a few moments she lay rolling easily in a moderate
swell, safe, though considerably strained from her wild voyage across a
lake that many larger and more seaworthy boats would have hesitated to
brave.