ROUGH WATER ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN.
The wind was very fresh from the northwest on the lake, and its surface
was covered with white-caps. Above Split Rock Point the lake looked like
a sea of foam, and heavy waves rolled in upon the beach in Porter's Bay.
Even Beechwater was considerably agitated. Prudent mothers would have
thought it dangerous to go out upon the lake at such a time.
Apparently for the reason that the water was rough on Lake Champlain,
the students elected to have an excursion in the barges. The principal
did not object, for the boys had been trained to rough weather, and they
knew how to handle the boats in any sea that ever was stirred up on
fresh water, albeit the waves are often more perilous on large lakes
than on the ocean.
Oscar Chester was the coxswain of the Gildrock, and Thad Glovering of
the Winooski. The former was still used by the first class, and the
latter by the second. But the classes had been considerably changed,
and vacancies in the first had been filled from the second and from the
most advanced of the new pupils. The third class consisted mainly of new
scholars.
The twelve-oar barges each had a crew of thirteen, including the
coxswains. Nine of the third class were detailed for service in the new
eight-oar barge, and there was one who had no station in any boat. One
of the thirty-six students to which the school was now limited had been
taken sick, and returned to his home in the winter. He was from the far
South, and the climate was too severe for him. His place had not been
filled before the coming of Paul Bristol. He was to be a spare hand for
the present, and was to take the place of any one who was absent.
The eight-oar barge was the Marian, in honor of Dory's sister, and the
name had been given by the students. Paul had spoken to Dory about the
tin box in the hollow of the tree, and it had been arranged to visit
Sandy Point in the Goldwing: but when the students decided to go out in
the barges, the plan had been changed. Dick Short, though a first-rate
mechanic, and one of the best boatmen in the fleet, had been transferred
to the third class because he was deficient in some of his book
studies, and could not keep up with his class-mates.
Dick had been elected coxswain in the Marian. Dory had trained the new
crew, but he declined to be the chief in the boat. He pulled the stroke
oar, though he exchanged places with the coxswain when the boys were in
training. The crew of the Marian generally manned the Goldwing, though
the schooner was often used by other parties.
A lunch had been put up for each of the crews of the barges, and they
were expected to be absent all the rest of the day. Sometimes Captain
Gildrock was called by business or pleasure to visit Burlington,
Plattsburgh, or other places on the lake, when the students were at
their studies, or off in the barges. At such times he was his own pilot,
Mr. Jepson was the engineer when not instructing in the shop or
drawing-room, Bates was deck-hand, and Collins, the gardener, was the
fireman.
Before the students were dismissed from the school-room, steam was up on
the Sylph, and the barges had hardly departed before she left the wharf.
If she had any particular destination, it was unknown to most of the
students; and possibly the principal desired to take a view of Sandy
Point after the event of the preceding night.
It was half-past eleven when the barges backed out of the boat-house.
Paul was seated in the stern-sheets of the Marian. He had not yet been
trained to pull with the crew, though he would have gladly taken an oar.
On the present occasion his mission related to business. While they were
at breakfast, Lily had spoken to him about a valise she had been obliged
to leave at the house of her former employer in Westport. Paul had
promised to get it when he could.
The Marian led the way down the creek into the river, and then out into
the lake. The other barges followed at a respectful distance, and their
crews did not seem to be inclined to engage in any scrub races. The
speed of the eight-oar boat had not yet been tested, and it had always
been taken for granted that either of the other barges could beat her
without half trying. But it was no time to indulge in a race when the
water was so rough.
The waves were dashing smartly over the point at the mouth of Beaver
River, and the bow of the Marian was lifted up in the air as she plunged
in among the white-caps. Dick Short got the hang of the waves as soon as
they struck the boat. Paul thought it was about as rough a time as he
had ever seen on the lake during the season of navigation; but he had
never been in the barge before, and everything was new to him.
"By the big wooden spoon!" exclaimed the passenger, when the Marian was
in the thickest of the miniature billows, and the water was occasionally
slopping in over the bow. "Don't you expect you will all get drowned?"
"You can't tell about that," replied the coxswain, who felt as much at
home in the boat as he would in the school-room. "We are not prophets,
and we can't tell what is going to happen."
"Don't you think it is dangerous to come out here when the lake is
boiling after this sort?" asked Paul, as he looked at the angry waves
around him.
"I suppose it is. There is always water enough in the lake to drown the
whole of us," answered Dick Short, who was rather inclined to work upon
the fears of a timid voyager.
"Then what do you come out here for?"
"For fun."
"Is there any fun in being drowned, Dick Short?" asked Paul seriously,
as he glanced at Dory, whose face was as calm as the minister's on
Sunday.
"Any fun in being drowned? How should I know? I never tried it,"
returned the coxswain.
"But don't you think it is dangerous to be out here in such a blow?"
Paul insisted; and he really believed he was in peril.
"Of course it is."
"Then don't you think you had better put back into the river?"
"But it is dangerous in there," added Dick. "Suppose a tree should blow
down and kill every fellow in the boat? Suppose the sea-serpent should
be having a vacation up Beaver River, and take it into his head to
swallow us all, one at a time? Suppose the river should catch fire and
burn us all up? Suppose the sky should fall, as Chicken Little said it
would, and smash us all to jelly?"
"You are making fun of me, Dick," said Paul, laughing.
"The principal says it is useless to worry about anything. We do the
best we can with the boat; and if she spills us into the fluid, all we
have to do is to get out if we can."
"I think I can stand it as well as any of the rest of the fellows can,
and I don't mean to worry," returned Paul. "I never was out on the lake
when it was anything near as rough as it is to-day, and it looks
dangerous to me."
"If you don't feel right about it, we will put you ashore," added the
coxswain.
"I am not scared; I can stand it as well as the rest of you. I was only
asking about it for information," continued Paul.
"I don't believe you are scared; if you had pluck enough to stand up
against Walk Billcord and his father, I don't believe you will mind a
little ripple on the lake like this," replied Dick, laughing.
"You said it was dangerous."
"Well, an ox-team is dangerous if you let the beasts run off a
precipice. It is dangerous to go to bed, for the house may burn up
before morning."
"We don't think we are in any more danger here, Paul, than we are every
hour of the day on shore," added Dory. "Dick could upset the boat, and
spill us all into the drink, if he did not understand his business and
attend to it."
"All right; I am satisfied," replied the son of toil. "But I thought you
were going up to Sandy Point."
"So we are; but the direct course would be about southwest, and that
would put us into the trough of the sea and keep us rolling the gunwale
under all the time," replied Dick. "The principal don't allow the
fellows to be reckless. There comes the Sylph out of the river, and
Captain Gildrock is on board of her. If he should see me letting the
barge wallow about in the trough of the sea, when there is no need of
it, he would give me fits."
"We could go direct to Sandy Point, though at a little risk. We should
take in a good deal of water, and it would be uncomfortable," said Dory.
"In a small boat in a blow, or in a squall, the safe way is to keep her
head up to the sea."
"The other boats are following us."
"The coxswain of each can do as he pleases; but the fellows all know
there is no fun in being knocked about in the trough of a smart sea,"
added the coxswain. "Do you expect to find any one at the point when we
get there, Paul?"
"No; it isn't twelve o'clock yet. The Chesterfields are in school from
eight to one, and then go to dinner. They won't get away from the house
before two," replied Paul. "I don't believe any one at the school has
any idea of what was done at the point last night."
"I should like to be where I could see them when they get to the point,
and find that the cottage is missing," added Dick, chuckling. "Major
Billcord will be the maddest man in the State of New York when he finds
it is gone."
"Of course he will be. He don't care anything about the land over there,
and all he wanted was to punish us for resisting his saintly son."
"I don't believe it will be safe for you to show your head in Westport
again, Paul, or let any of the Chesterfields see you."
"Land me in Westport and see," laughed Paul.
Dick agreed to do so.