WHEN THE COMFORT WAS HUNG UP.
Evidently Jimmy was not at all dismayed by his present setback. As he
said, he sprang from stock that would never acknowledge defeat.
"Just wait, me laddybuck," he declared, as he shook his finger at the
grinning Nick; "the day is long yit, and by the powers, they be other
ways of beating that record ye've hung up. I'll kape me eyes about me,
to say if another jewfish wouldn't be afther stranding himself for me
'special benefit. And who knows but what this toime it may be a three
hundred pounder I'll be lugging into camp."
"Oh, that's all right, Jimmy," remarked the fat boy, apparently not very
much worried over the possibility of losing his laurels; "but make sure
of one thing before you claim the earth."
"And what moight that be?" demanded Jimmy, innocently.
"Why, don't shout till you see whether it's a fish--_or a log_!" and
Nick lay back on the soft cushions he had brought on deck for his own
comfort, to laugh uproariously at his remark.
Jimmy turned a bit red, but joined in the general hilarity; for he was
able to enjoy a joke, even at his own expense.
Some days before, while Jimmy was fishing very industriously, he had
given a yell, and was seen to be pulling at a tremendous rate at
something to which his hook had evidently become attached.
Of course his rival had shown great interest in his actions, for it
looked as if the Irish lad must have hooked a monster of a fish. But
when finally Jimmy was able, alone and unaided, to bring the thing to
the surface, he discovered, much to his chagrin, that it was only a
sunken and waterlogged log. His own frantic labor had given it all the
wonderful movements which he believed were the struggles of a captured
fish.
"But I say, Jack, darlint," went on the Irish boy, "before I make
another thry, plase tell me this: Suppose now, ye should say me comin'
back, and ridin' on a manatee that they do be havin' around here--would
ye call that a fish, becase it lives, so they tell me, under the wather
all the toime?"
He glared triumphantly at Nick, whose mouth opened in sheer amazement
upon hearing the audacious proposition.
"If he don't take the cake for trying to do the queerest things, now!"
the fat boy exclaimed. "Why, it's just silly to think of him capturing
a manatee, and harnessing it, like they say Father Neptune does the
dolphins. And Jack, looky here, a manatee can't be a fish at all, any
more than an alligator is."
"Tell me why?" demanded Jimmy, pugnaciously. "Sure, it's amphibious it
do be, and lives under the water all the toime. I think I've got ye
there, Nick, me bhoy."
"But listen," Nick continued, with conviction in his manner, "haven't
you heard it called a sea cow; and can a cow be a fish, Jack?" with
which he turned triumphantly toward the laughing umpire.
"Now, what's the matter with a cow-whale?" asked Jimmy; "and yet deny
that a whale is a fish if ye dare?"
"Jack, settle that, won't you, before he goes and brings in every old
varmint to be found in this region?" pleaded Nick.
But Jack was too wise. He did not want to shut out the possibility of
their having the time of their lives, should the energetic and ambitious
Jimmy attempt to carry his plans into effect.
"No, I'm not going to bother my head over things that may never happen,"
he declared; and with that Jimmy paddled away in the little dinky,
grinning broadly at the uneasy Nick.
"Nobody just knows what that fellow _will_ do next," muttered the fat
boy, as he followed his retreating rival with his eyes.
Meanwhile Jack was taking a look around with his glasses.
"Somehow I don't altogether like this place after we've anchored," he
remarked.
"And why?" inquired Herb.
"For one thing," Jack continued, "it's more exposed than would be
pleasant, if one of those Northers we've been hearing so much about
should spring up in the night. And I've been watching those ibis and
cranes flying over for some time now. They all head in one quarter, and
from that I reckon there's a bird roost over yonder."
Herb pricked up his ears, for he had long since expressed a desire to
look in on a real roosting place, where all kinds of birds came together
each night.
"I tell you, Jack," he remarked, eagerly, "let's change our anchorage,
and head that way. It can't be more than a mile or so further in, d'ye
think?"
"Not more than that," was the reply.
"But we don't want to get lost among these blooming islands!" said
George.
"We could make some sort of mark as we go, to leave a trail, and it
would be easy to come out the same way," was Jack's sensible suggestion.
"But how about Jimmy; if he came back here, and found us gone, there
would be a howl, believe me?" Nick observed.
"It happens by good luck that he's headed in just the right direction,
so I could pick him up on the way," Jack declared.
"And that would wind up his fishing for today, wouldn't it?" asked Nick.
"It surely would," was the reply of the _Tramp's_ skipper; whereupon the
fat boy heaved an audible sigh of gratification.
"Then I vote in favor of doing what Jack says, and having a peep in at
the bird colony tonight, if we can," he remarked.
"We might as well, I suppose," Josh put in, being somewhat curious
himself with regard to what such a roost looked like.
"I say this," continued Jack, who thought his sudden desire to change
their anchorage needed further explanation, "because I understand that
these roosts, once so plentiful in Southern Florida, are hard to find
nowadays; and we might not have another chance to see the sight."
"What happens to make 'em scarce?" asked Josh.
"Oh, well! the main thing has been that plume hunters have found them
out, and murdered the birds by the thousands. It's worse when they hunt
out the nesting places of the herons, and kill the mother birds, just to
get the aigrette, which, it happens, is always at its best about the
time the birds have young."
"Say, I've read a lot about that," mentioned George; "and they tell us
that it's the most dreadful thing to visit one of those nesting places
in the swamp after the plume hunters have been at their bloody work.
Thousands of young birds are starving in the nests, and the sounds they
put up just haunt a fellow forever."
"None of that in mine," declared tender-hearted Nick, firmly.
"I guess we all say the same," Jack added; "but when our intention is
only to see what such a place looks like, nobody can blame us for
going."
"I should hope not," said George. "But do we get up our mudhooks right
now, Jack, and mosey out of this nook?"
"That's the programme, and here goes for my anchor. Whew! it's stuck
fast in the mud, all right. Give me a lift, Josh, after you and Herb
have pulled yours up on deck," and inside of five minutes all of them
had washed the mud from the forked anchors, which were then placed
conveniently on the forward deck, where they could be dropped overboard
with a push.
Then the boats moved off.
This time it was the steady going old _Comfort_ that took the lead--Jack
being in no particular hurry and George, as usual, being compelled to
tamper with his eccentric motor, before he could get it to going right.
Of course Herb meant to fall back presently, and let the _Tramp_ take
the lead; but it was really so seldom that he had a chance to leave the
others in the lurch that he and Josh seemed to enjoy running away.
Jack, of course, was on the lookout for the first sign of his teammate.
Jimmy was discovered rowing frantically around one end of the big
island, as though, upon hearing the popping of exhausts, he had been
seized with a sudden fear lest he was in danger of being abandoned there
in that terrible region, with not a foot of high land within many miles.
"Hi! howld on there, Jack darlint!" he called out, stopping to wave a
hand toward the advancing _Tramp_.
When alongside he of course demanded to know what it all meant; and upon
learning that they were about to go a mile or so further in, Jimmy shook
his head in a discouraged manner, saying:
"Arrah! now, as if I couldn't say through a stone that has a hole in the
same. I do be belaving that it's all the fault of that same sly one,
Nick. He's that fearful of me accomplishin' me threat, and securin' a
whopper of a fish, that he invents all sorts of rasons for being on the
jump. But I'll get the better of him yet, say if I don't, Jack, me
bhoy!"
He climbed aboard, still grumbling, as though unable to convince himself
that this was not all some smart scheme, engineered by his rival, in
order to keep him from securing a prize catch.
Herb was still far ahead, and skirting some of the many islands. When he
reached a certain point he had marked out for himself, he intended to
lie to, and wait for the coming of Jack. George had started on at a fast
gait, and doubtless was determined to head off the clumsy _Comfort_,
which fact may have urged Herb to do his best and cut corners sharply.
All of which led up to a sequel.
Jack suddenly missed the loud noise that usually accompanied the
progress of the broad-beamed boat. As he looked up he discovered that
George was heading straight for the _Comfort_, which hung near the point
of an island; also that both Herb and Josh were jumping wildly about, as
though greatly excited.
"What do be the matter with the gossoons?" asked Jimmy.
"I don't know for certain," replied Jack; "but I've got my suspicions.
Herb was running in a careless way and just as like as not he managed to
snag his boat. If that's what happened, we're in for a peck of trouble;
for there's no boat builder within many miles of this place, and we'd be
lucky to find even a piece of shore to pull her up on."