IN THE GRIP OF MIGHTY SEAS
The captain quickly furled the jibs, then took a reef in the mainsail.
Consulting the skies again, he decided to leave one of the jibs up, so
set it once more and took another reef in the mainsail, thus
shortening the latter considerably.
The "Sister Sue" was now making no headway at all, but was rolling
dizzily from wave to wave, now and then a swell striking the side of
the little boat and tumbling torrents of green water over into the
cockpit. The girls were set to work bailing. They already were soaked
to the skin, though, instead of being disturbed, they were laughing
joyously, thinking it great fun. Their attention was called to a
school of porpoises that came leaping toward them, appearing at first
like miniature geysers springing out of the oily green seas. The
porpoises divided, passing on either side of the sloop and close
aboard, racing on toward the land that lay off yonder somewhere in the
green distance.
It was now impossible to stand without holding fast to something that
would not give. Harriet had never seen a boat roll so fast. From side
to side it lurched, plunging at the same time, both with almost
incredible speed. Her own head was beginning to spin. Tommy's face was
pale.
"You're getting seasick," smiled Harriet, eyeing her friend sharply.
"No, I'm not," protested the little girl "You're getting thick
yourthelf."
"I confess to being dizzy," admitted Harriet, "but I am not so ill
that I must go to bed. Keep outside. You will be much better off than
in the cabin, where the air is close and the others are suffering."
"I'm going to, thank you." Tommy stood braced against the cabin, her
keen little eyes observing the now serious face of the skipper. "I
gueth thomething ith going to happen," she observed.
"Don't tell the others," cautioned Harriet, with a warning shake of
the head.
"I don't intend to. What ith it, a thtorm?"
Harriet nodded.
"I knew it. I jutht knew thomething wath going to break loothe."
The purple haze was nearing at a rapid rate of speed, and Harriet
Burrell saw that with it the sea was piling up, its white crests angry
and menacing.
"Try to keep the wind dead astern," ordered the skipper. "I will
handle the sheets. Do you think you can manage it?"
"Yes, sir. I will be on the lookout for orders. You may depend upon
me, sir."
"Then we'll weather it, but we shall get pretty wet, and night is
coming on, too. We're going to have a merry night of it! All hands who
do not wish to get a ducking go below," shouted the skipper.
Miss Elting, Jane, Harriet and Tommy remained outside. The captain
tossed a rope to each, directing them to tie the ropes about their
waists, making the lines fast to a cleat on the after end of the
raised deck cabin.
"Just for safety's sake," he nodded.
The wind was beginning to whistle through the rigging, the water to
foam under the bows of the "Sister Sue," showing that she was getting
under good headway.
"Port one point," bellowed the skipper. Harriet instantly obeyed the
command. Then the gale was upon them with a screech and a roar. A
volume of water that threatened to swamp them rolled toward the stern,
but before it had done so Harriet, acting upon a sharply uttered
command, had swung the sloop about until its nose met the oncoming
rush of wind and water. She gasped for breath as the flood of salt
water enveloped her; yet, bracing her feet, clung firmly to the
wheel, holding the craft on the new course. Afterward Harriet had a
faint recollection of having seen her companions swimming on the green
sea in the little cockpit, Tommy's pale face standing out more
prominently than all the rest.
"We made it," roared the skipper. "Now hold her steady, and she will
ride it out like a duck." He grabbed up a pail and began bailing with
all his might. Jane did likewise, then Miss Elting lent her
assistance. Tommy was clinging to the cabin roof with all her might.
Before the storm struck them they had not thought to light their
masthead and side lights. Now it was next to impossible to do so. The
sloop was rushing through the seas without a light to mark her
presence on the sea that was growing more wild with the moments. But
the binnacle light was burning steadily over the compass, so that the
helmswoman was able to see in which direction they were heading. The
compass told her that, instead of making headway toward land, they
were rushing along at a frightful rate of speed toward Europe. Still,
she realized that this was the only safe course to follow.
All at once Harriet Burrell uttered a sharp cry of alarm. She threw
the wheel over so suddenly that a wave smashing against the side of
the sloop nearly turned them turtle. Captain Billy, with quick
instinct, let go the mainsail, which swung out far to leeward, thus
saving the little craft from being upset. Up to this moment he did not
know what the sudden shifting meant, but just as he was about to
bellow to the helmswoman he caught sight of a towering mass of lights
that for the moment seemed to hang over them, then flashed on, missing
the "Sue" by a few scant rods of water. They had had a narrow escape
from being run down by a steamer. But for Harriet's quickness, nothing
could have saved them. It was plain that those on the bridge of the
steamer had not discovered the small boat in the sea under their bows,
for they did not even hail.
"Good work," bellowed the skipper.
"I thought we'd got to Europe," shouted Tommy.
"Lay her to. I've got to close reef that sail," commanded the captain.
Harriet pointed the bow right into the teeth of the wind. Oh, how that
little craft did plunge! At times it seemed as if the greater part of
her length were wholly out of water, that she had taken a long,
quivering leap from the crest of one great wave to another. So hard
was she pitching that she had little time left in which to roll. Salt
spray rained down over the decks until the cabin itself was almost
wholly hidden from the view of the girl at the wheel. In the meantime
the captain had reefed the mainsail down to the last row.
"Now let her off a few points," he directed.
Boom!
"Oh, what was that?" cried Miss Elting, her voice barely heard in the
shriek of the gale. "What happened?"
"Jib gone by the board," shouted the captain. "Lucky if we don't lose
the mainsail the same way."
Harriet had not uttered a sound when the startling report had boomed
out above the roar of the storm, but her heart had seemed to leap into
her throat. Her arms had grown numb under the strain of holding the
wheel, for the sea was hurling its tremendous force against the craft,
requiring great effort on the part of the helmswoman to keep the boat
on its course. But she clung doggedly to her chosen task, seeking to
pierce the darkness ahead with her gaze. The salt water made her eyes
smart so that she could scarcely see at all. Yet she could feel the
wind on her face, and by that guide alone she was enabled to keep the
"Sue" headed into the storm. She long since had ceased trying to keep
the boat on a compass course, for the greater part of the time the
compass card was invisible either through the spray or solid water,
as the case might be.
It was marvelous how the little boat stood up under the bombardment of
the Atlantic rollers and the mountains of water that hurled themselves
upon her. Harriet was standing in water up to her knees, but,
fortunately, every time the boat rolled or plunged, a volume of salt
water was hurled out into the sea itself.
In the cabin everything movable was afloat. The passengers in there
were nearly drowned at times, but in their fright most of them had
forgotten their seasickness. They were clinging to the seats in most
instances, screaming with fear. Miss Elting, deciding that her
presence was needed in the cabin rather than outside, plunged into the
dark hole head-first. Quickly gathering herself together, she did her
best to calm and comfort the girls, though every plunge of the boat
she expected would be its last. It did not seem possible that the
little craft could weather the gale.
Suddenly there came a mighty crash above their heads, followed by a
ripping, tearing sound, and above it all sounded the screams of the
girls who were fighting their great battle out there in the cockpit of
the "Sister Sue."
The girls in the cabin threw themselves into one another's arms,
screaming wildly.
"Stop it!" shouted Miss Elting. "Be brave, girls. Remember, you are
Camp Girls!"
The cabin doors burst in and a great green wave hurled them the length
of the cabin, crushing them against the bulkhead at the far end, the
guardian clinging, gasping, nearly drowned, to a rail above the
doorway.