THE MYSTERIOUS POWER BOAT.
"Jerusalem! if I owned that engine, George, do you know what I'd do with
it?" Nick was heard to say, as the others drew near. "Why, I'd take the
first chance, when in touch with a town, and sink her miles deep. Hang
it, I'd be willing to contribute half the money I've got saved, to help
get a new engine for the old shaker."
"All right, I take you up on that offer, Nick," George made answer, as
quick as a flash; "because, to tell the honest truth, I'm getting weary
of the cranky thing myself. But that isn't going to help us any now.
Lend a hand here, and let's see what we can do to mend matters."
"Hold on there, fellows," called out Jack.
"Hello! here's the commodore arrived," George sang out, with a nervous
little laugh. "Same old story, Jack; and blessed if I can say how long
it'll take to fix her up again, so she'll do business. Might be ten
minutes; and again I'm afraid it may be something serious this time,
that will keep me busy hours."
"Well, we can't stay out here all that time, with a storm in prospect,"
said Jack.
"Thunder! what's that you say?" broke from the perspiring skipper of the
stalled _Wireless_, as his head again bobbed up into view, and he swept
an anxious look in all quarters.
"There's a bank of clouds poking up over yonder that may mean trouble,"
Jack went on to say. "So just get your stoutest cable hitched to a cleat
forward, and pass me the other end."
"What for?" asked George.
"I'm going to tow you, that's all," Jack replied.
"Shucks! is that necessary?" demanded the proud George, with a slight
frown.
"It sure is, for every furlong we cover now brings us that much nearer a
safe harbor; and if those clouds are out for business, we'll need all we
can gain," Jack went on to insist.
"Then I suppose I'll just have to," the other continued; "here, Nick,
get out the hawser, and I'll clamp it on to this cleat. But see here,
Jack, after you get started, Nick can keep watch while I work at the
engine, can't he?"
"Nothing for him to do but hold the wheel and keep straight after me.
Perhaps when the little _Tramp_ does her prettiest, the two of us can
keep going as fast as the _Comfort_ goes; and so nothing will have been
lost after all, George."
"That's true; only I don't like it one little bit," grunted George,
as he commenced to fasten one end of the hawser to the stout little
cleat--for, to tell the truth, George was a mighty poor loser.
Once Jack had the other end of the line, he made it secure to the stern
of his own staunch boat.
"Here goes now; look out!" he warned, as he started forward once more.
The three boats had been wallowing on the heaving seas while power was
shut off; but no sooner did they pick up their course again, than this
sickening motion gave way to that of progress.
George took off his coat, and got busy. He was considerable of a
mechanic, and at least possessed the commendable trait of persistence.
Once he had started to do a thing he never rested satisfied until it was
accomplished.
"Seems like you're doing just as well pulling that wreck as we are
alone!" called Herb from the _Comfort_, which was not more than fifty
feet away.
George's head came into view above the gunwale of the speed boat, but
somehow this time he was feeling quite too bad to take up cudgels in
defense of his craft. Besides, there was truth in calling her a wreck
just then. So he ducked down once more and pretended not to have heard
the sarcastic allusion.
"Just what I expected when I proposed to tow George," Jack answered; and
then he turned the glasses ahead to a point that seemed to interest him
considerably.
"Think that can be the place?" asked Herb, still watching him closely.
"I believe it is, yes, and hope so, too," came the reply, together with
a significant glance upward to where the clouds were beginning to shut
out the sun, now on its way down the western sky.
"I see you're edging in more?" Herb continued.
"That's right," answered Jack; "we'd better be as near land as we dare
go. It may mean a heap to us sooner or later."
They went on for some time, with things seeming to be no different,
only the clouds kept covering the sky, making the water look dark and
forbidding. Indeed, all of the boys were now considerably alarmed. The
storm seemed to be getting closer, and their haven had not as yet hove
in sight.
"That's because we're coming down from the north," explained Jack, when
Nick called out to mention this distressing fact. "You see, the trees
all run together, and it's next to impossible to tell where the mainland
ends off and the key begins. But I think I get the dividing line through
the glasses. Anyhow, I'm heading straight for it right now."
Ten minutes later and Josh called out, to say that he could see the
opening all right; and the others added their evidence to what he said.
"There's the new breeze coming, Jack!" called Herb.
"Yes, and the harbor is so close too," George put in, as he arose from
his lowly position. "But I reckon my engine will go now, Jack. If you
hear her crackle, please cast off that hawser, will you?"
"Sure!" sang out Jimmy, as he climbed forward, Jack having taken the
wheel himself some little time previous, so as to be prepared for any
emergency that might arise.
A moment later and there was a merry popping from the mended motor of
the _Wireless_, and immediately Jimmy heard this he cast the rope loose.
"Better make a plunge for it, George; I'll stand by Herb!" sang out
Jack.
"But that wouldn't look right," objected George, though doubtless he
would feel better satisfied if given a chance to make use of the great
speed his boat could show under special conditions, in order to get in a
harbor before the blow struck them.
"Rats! get along with you. We understand what your feelings are; but we
also know what a cranky boat you've got. Hit her up now, and skedaddle!"
called Jack.
"Are you saying that as a chum, or as the commodore of the fleet?" asked
George.
"As the commodore; and see to it that you obey orders," answered the
other.
Accordingly, George did put his motor to its best speed, and rapidly
left them in the lurch. Jack would never desert the steady going old
_Comfort_, and that wide-beamed craft was already working her full limit
of nine miles to the hour, so nothing could be done but keep moving, and
hope for the best.
The wind increased. Luckily it was dead ahead; and while it might retard
their progress to some extent, at the same time it did not kick up half
the tremendous sea that would have been the case had it come from the
wide ocean at their back, or the port side.
"Do ye be thinking we can make it?" asked Jimmy, who looked a little
peaked as he squatted there, watching the tumbling waves, and eying
wistfully the shores now close at hand, where houses were to be seen.
"I don't doubt it for a minute," answered the resolute skipper of the
_Tramp_, who always refused to be downcast when face to face with
danger. "We're hitting up a pretty fair pace, and if nothing happens to
prevent, in ten minutes we'll begin to get the benefit of the shelter of
the land."
"Anyhow, George has gone through the opening," declared Jimmy,
hopefully.
"Why, yes, there he is beyant, and in calm water; I do believe he's
waiting for us right now. Bully for George! And we ought to be with him
soon."
Although the storm increased, they were by now so well in that it had
little terror for them. And presently they ran into calmer waters, where
the other boat waited for their coming.
After that it did not take the boys long to pick out a nook where they
could be sheltered to a great extent from the blow. And here they
anchored, very thankful because of their safe arrival near Miami, after
making such a record run outside, where their boats looked like tiny
chips on the wide, heaving sea.
All of them were tired, and welcomed the coming of night, when they
could partake of supper, and perhaps gather around a camp-fire ashore.
Jack had seen that there were quite a number of other boats of all
kinds scattered around the bay. Some were anchored off cottages, while
others scudded for the home port before the storm increased to violent
proportions. Although the time for West India hurricanes was long since
past, any blow along the coast may mean peril to small craft, and they
considered it safer to get into shelter before the worst came.
Jack was doing some little work aboard the _Tramp_ when a boat scraped
alongside.
"Hello!" he exclaimed, as George climbed aboard; "what brings you over
here?"
"Let me have your glasses, won't you, Jack?" asked the other,
mysteriously.
"That sounds mighty like you thought you had made some discovery,
George. Say, three to one it's about that power boat that is a ringer
for the _Tramp_?"
"Go up head, Jack, because you've guessed it the first clat out of the
box. Good for you! Now I'll satisfy my mind about one thing, and find
out whether they are watching us every time we happen to run together."
"So that's the boat anchored away over yonder, is it?" Jack mused. "For
all we know it may belong to the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, and be at
home right now."
"Huh! just as I thought," grunted George.
"What's that?" demanded the other.
"There's a feller sitting on deck right now, and I'll be hanged if he
hasn't got a pair of marine glasses in his hands, leveled straight at
us. Didn't I tell you, Jack, there's something mysterious about that
boat? They are keeping tabs on us right along. Perhaps they're down here
to follow us, though what for I declare if I can guess. There, I guess
he saw I had a pair of glasses leveled at him, for he dodged inside the
cabin like a flash. Jack, whatever can it mean?"
"You've got me guessing, George, and I'll have to pass," laughed the
other, although admitting to himself that the circumstances were
beginning to savor more of mystery than up to now he had been willing
to acknowledge.