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[Illustration: THEN A WOMAN WAS LOWERED BY MEANS OF THIS, AND SAFELY
STOWED AWAY. Darry the Life Saver--Page 185]
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DARRY THE LIFE SAVER
Or
The Heroes of the Coast
By
FRANK V. WEBSTER
Author of "Only a Farm Boy," "Bob the Castaway,"
"The Boys of Bellewood School," etc.
ILLUSTRATED
New York
Cupples & Leon Company
Publishers
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BOOKS FOR BOYS
By FRANK V. WEBSTER
12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, 40 cents, postpaid
ONLY A FARM BOY
TOM, THE TELEPHONE BOY
THE BOY FROM THE RANCH
THE YOUNG TREASURE HUNTER
BOB, THE CASTAWAY
THE YOUNG FIREMEN OF LAKEVILLE
THE NEWSBOY PARTNERS
THE BOY PILOT OF THE LAKES
TWO BOY GOLD MINERS
JACK, THE RUNAWAY
COMRADES OF THE SADDLE
THE BOYS OF BELLWOOD SCHOOL
THE HIGH SCHOOL RIVALS
AIRSHIP ANDY
BOB CHESTER'S GRIT
BEN HARDY'S FLYING MACHINE
DICK, THE BANK BOY
DARRY, THE LIFE SAVER
Copyright, 1911, by
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
DARRY, THE LIFE SAVER
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Hurricane 1
II. Saved by the Life Chain 10
III. Abner Peake's Offer 19
IV. The Cabin by the Sea 29
V. An Encounter on the Road 39
VI. Winning His Way 46
VII. The Midnight Alarm 55
VIII. Across the Bay 63
IX. The Signal Rocket 71
X. Jim the Bully 78
XI. A Glorious Prospect 86
XII. The Stolen Traps 94
XIII. Joe's Shotgun Secures a Supper 102
XIV. The Lonely Vigil of the Coast Patrol 110
XV. The Power of Music 117
XVI. Darry Meets with a Rebuff 124
XVII. Abner Tells a Little History 132
XVIII. The Imprisoned Launch 139
XIX. The Part of an Elder Brother 146
XX. Bad Luck and Good 154
XXI. Satisfying the Mortgage 162
XXII. Abner Hears the News 171
XXIII. Darry in the Lifeboat 179
XXIV. The Awakening 191
XXV. Conclusion 202
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DARRY, THE LIFE SAVER
CHAPTER I
THE HURRICANE
"Will we ever weather this terrible storm?"
It was a half-grown lad who flung this despairing question out; the wind
carried the sound of his voice off over the billows; but there came no
answer.
A brigantine, battered by the tropical hurricane sweeping up from the
Caribbean Sea, was staggering along like a wounded beast. Her masts had
long since gone by the board, and upon the stump of the mizzen-stick a
bit of canvas like a goose-wing had been spread in the useless endeavor
to maintain steerageway.
All around, the sea rose and fell in mountainous waves, on which the
poor wreck tossed about, as helpless as a cork.
Though the lad, lashed to some of the rigging that still clung to the
temporary jury mast, strained his eyes to the utmost, he could see
nothing but the waste of waves, the uplifting tops of which curled over,
and were snatched away in flying spud by the furious wind.
Darry was the cabin boy of the _Falcon_, having sailed with Captain
Harley now for several years. The old navigator had run across him in a
foreign port, and under most peculiar conditions.
Hearing a boyish voice that somehow struck his fancy, raised in angry
protest, followed by the crack of a whip, and much loud laughing, the
skipper of the brigantine had pushed into a cafe in Naples.
Here he discovered a small, but sturdy lad, who had apparently been
playing a violin for coppers, refusing to dance for a big brute of a
sailor, an Italian, who had seized upon his beloved instrument.
When the boy had made an effort to recover the violin the bully
deliberately smashed it on the back of a chair.
Then, laughing at the poor little chap's expressions of grief as he
gathered up the pieces tenderly in his arms, the brutal sailor had
seized upon a carter's whip, and cracking it loudly, declared that he
would lay it over the boy's shoulders unless he mounted a table and
danced to his whistling.
It was then that the big mariner strode in and stood between the lad and
his cowardly persecutors.
When good-hearted Captain Harley heard the boy's pitiful story, and that
he was a waif, having been abandoned some years before by an old man
with whom he seemed to have been traveling, he offered to befriend him,
and give him a chance to see something of the world as cabin boy on the
good old brigantine, _Falcon_.
This offer the little chap had eagerly accepted, for he believed he must
be of American birth, and somehow longed to set foot on that land far
across the sea.
Some years had passed.
Darry knew no other home save the friendly cabin of the brigantine, and
since he had no knowledge as to what his name might be, by degrees he
came to assume that of his benefactor.
During these years the boy had seen much of the world, and learned many
things under the guidance of the warm-hearted captain.
Of course he spent many bitter hours in vain regrets over the fact that
there was so little chance of his ever learning his identity--only a
slender link seemed to connect him with that mysterious past that was
hidden from his sight; and this was a curious little scar upon his right
arm just below the elbow.
It looked like a crescent moon, and had been there ever since he could
remember.
This fact caused Darry to believe it might be the result of some
accident that must have occurred while he was yet a baby.
If such were the case then some people, _somewhere_, would be apt to
recognize this peculiar mark if they ever saw it again.
Captain Harley had always encouraged him in the belief that some happy
day he would surely know the truth.
Just now, however, it really looked as though Darry need no longer allow
himself to feel any anxiety on that score.
The ocean depths would offer just as easy a resting place to a nameless
waif as to a crowned monarch.
When the great waves broke over the drifting vessel the rush of water
must have swept him away, only that he had been wise enough to lash
himself to the stump of the mizzen-mast.
During a little lull in the tempest someone joined him, also using the
whipping rope-ends to secure his hold.
Darry saw by the aid of the darting lightning that it was his good
friend, the captain; and with his thoughts still taken up with the peril
of his situation he repeated the question that only the mocking winds
had heard before:
"Will we ever weather this storm, captain?"
"I fear not, my lad," replied the master of the ship, sadly, "the poor
old hulk is now only a plaything for the elements. It looks as though
the _Falcon_ had reached the end of her voyaging at last. Twenty years
have I commanded her. I have a feeling that if so be she goes down I
will not survive her."
The roar of the gale was such that it became necessary to shout at
times, in order to make one's self heard above the elements.
"Are we near the coast?" asked the boy, anxiously; for he knew that such
a thing must double their danger.
"I am afraid it is only too true, though the storm has been so prolonged
that I have long ago lost my reckoning," replied the mariner.
"But you told me these coasts are patrolled by brave life savers, who
always stand ready to risk everything in case a vessel is driven on the
reefs?" continued the boy, trying to see a gleam of hope through the
gloom.
"That is true, but alas! I am afraid even the bravest of men would find
themselves helpless in such a terrific blow as this."
"But, captain, surely you have not given up all hope?" anxiously
demanded Darry, trying to face the terrible prospect with a brave heart.
"I never do that, lad. But one of us may not live to reach the shore;
and since it is so, I wanted to have a few last words with you, and then
I must return to my duty, which is to try and steer this drifting hulk
until the end comes."
He reached out his hand.
The boy eagerly clutched it, and there, as the lightning flashed, he
looked into the kind face of his benefactor.
Something seemed to tell him that it was the last time he would ever
feel the pressure of that friendly hand, and this thought alarmed him as
the storm had thus far been unable to do.
"Listen, and take heed, my lad," said the skipper, earnestly, "it may be
that Providence will shield you through this time of trouble, and that
you shall reach the shore in safety after all. Should ill befall me I
want you to write my old mother up in York State--you know where she
lives. I have made all preparations, so that she will be provided for,
and my sister also. Do you understand me?"
"Oh! yes, sir! But I hope we may both pull through!" cried the boy,
earnestly.
"So do I, for life is sweet; but it may not be. Now, lad, about
yourself, and I am done. Remember all that I have taught you. Then you
will grow up to be a true man. And continue to search for some evidence
of your people. That mark on your arm may be of great value to you some
day. Hark! I fancied I caught the sound of the breakers just then! It is
possible that the time has come for us to part. Good bye, my boy, and
God bless you whatever betide!"
Another fierce pressure of the hand, and Captain Harley was gone.
Standing there, filled with horror and dismay, Darry caught a last
glimpse of his guardian staggering across the wet deck, and then the
gloom forever hid him from view.
The days would come, and the days would go, but always must he remember
that the last thought of the noble captain was for him.
He strained his hearing to ascertain whether the captain's fears were
well founded, and it was not long before he too could catch the awful
pounding of the seas upon the half-submerged reefs.
The helpless brigantine was drifting slowly, but surely to her fate; for
there was hardly a place along the whole American coast more dangerous
than this, which had in times past proved a graveyard for many noble
ships.
Among the tangled rigging was a broken spar, and to this Darry lashed
himself, in the faint hope that if it were swept ashore he might still
cling to life.
He awaited the impending crash with his heart cold within his breast;
for after all he was but a lad, and the strongest men might have viewed
the catastrophe with a sickening sense of dread.
Then came a fearful shock, as the brigantine was smashed down upon the
jaws of the reef by a mighty force.
After that the seas had her for a plaything, rushing completely over her
as if in derision.
Three times the boy was almost drowned by the flood that poured across
that slanting deck, and he knew that if he remained there longer his
time had surely come. It would be better to cut loose from the mast, and
trust his fortunes upon the breast of the next giant wave that, if it
were kind, would carry him well over the rocks, and head him for the
distant beach.
It was in sheer desperation that he seized upon his sailor's knife and
severed the ropes that thus far had held so securely.
Then he awaited the coming of the next comber with set teeth, and held
his breath.
A few seconds and it was upon him.
This time the spar, as well as the clinging lad, went sweeping over the
side of the vessel, and carried safely above the reef, started in
toward the beach on a roller that seemed gigantic.
The spray was in his eyes, so that he could hardly see at all, but at
that moment Darry thought he glimpsed a light somewhere ahead; and what
the captain had told him about the gallant life savers flashed into his
mind.
Somehow, it seemed to give the despairing boy renewed hope.
Perhaps these brave men were watching for the coming of just such
flotsam from the wreck, which they must have sighted when the lightning
flashed; and would find some means for plucking him out of the raging
sea.