THE BIRD ROOST.
"Sure, it's just like ye say, Jack!" exclaimed Jimmy, while they were
hurrying toward the imperiled boat at full speed. "They do be throwin'
wather out to beat bannigher. Josh has got a bucket and Herb handles a
basin. Glory be! but this is a bad job all around!"
Jack was looking beyond the sinking boat.
"I think I can see a little bit of a shore just over there," he declared,
"if only now we can drag the _Comfort_ there before she goes down. You
jump aboard with this bucket as soon as we get there. She looks lower in
the water already, but one more hand to toss it out may keep her afloat
long enough."
Jimmy was more than eager to lend all the assistance in his power. No
sooner had the _Tramp_ run alongside the other boat than he was over the
side. Nick, too, had been given the same instructions by George, for he
was already laboring with might and main to reduce the amount of water
that persisted in entering the big boat through the hole knocked in her
bottom by a stump or a submerged log.
"Here, George, lay close alongside, and let's get fast to her!" Jack
called out, realizing that heroic measures were all that would save the
imperiled craft now.
Quickly they carried out the plan. Ropes were passed back and forth, so
that the _Comfort_ could not really sink, with two such staunch boats
buoying her up.
"Now," continued Jack, when this had been accomplished, "start your
engine slowly and we'll try and beach her over yonder. By the greatest
of good luck there's a small patch of ground in sight, different from
these mud banks. Ready, George?"
"Yes," came the reply.
"Then go ahead!"
Jack held back until he heard the puttering of the _Wireless_ exhaust;
then he also started his engine, and the three boats moved slowly and
majestically off, the _Comfort_ looking, as Josh expressed it, like a
wounded duck sustained by the wings of two companions.
Those aboard the sinking craft had to keep up their work in a frantic
manner, if they did not want the boat to go down under them in midstream.
Now and then one would make a bad shot, and spill the contents of bucket
or basin over the forms of his fellow laborers. But although this might
have seemed comical to Nick or Josh or Jimmy at another time, they
failed to laugh now, even when struck full in the face by a deluge, and
half choked.
Fortunately the other island, where the little patch of rising ground
had been discovered by Jack, was close at hand, so that in less than ten
minutes they had arrived as near as they dared go.
"Now, I'm going to break loose and get behind," said Jack. "If I can
shove her further in, it'll be all right, for then she won't sink any
lower. In the morning we can get the block and tackle, and drag her out
on skids."
The workers were encouraged to keep at it furiously for another minute
or two, while the _Tramp_ did the shoving part. Knowing just how to go
about it, Jack made a success of his part of the business.
"Hurrah!" gasped Nick, when the keel grated on the bottom, and the weary
water-casters could rest from their labors.
But there was a lot more to do. The bedding and stores that were aboard
had to be rescued, and placed where they might have a chance to dry. It
took some little time to get all the stuff out; and then Jack had
another idea.
"Perhaps I might shove her up still further, if you fellows went
ashore," he suggested; which they declared to be a good thing.
"After all," said Jack, when he had actually succeeded in pushing the
stranded _Comfort_ a foot or so further in, "what does it matter? We'll
have to make a couple of skids tomorrow, and get a purchase on some of
the mangroves yonder; when we can yank her up, no matter where she is.
And now I vote that we get ashore, and see about starting supper. I'm as
hungry as a bear."
"Hear! hear!" applauded Nick. "And while I'm about it, I guess I had
ought to change my shoes and socks, because I'm wet to the knees; fact
is, I'm pretty well soaked all over. Josh kept emptying his old pail
over me right along. I guess I swallowed as much of the salt stuff as he
got over the side."
However, by the time night had set in, the boys were all feeling in a
better humor. Those who were wet had changed some of their things, and
dried the rest beside the fire that was burning cheerily.
"What do you think of it, Jack?" asked Herbert, after the other had made
as good an examination of the hole in the bottom of the wrecked motor
boat as the circumstances permitted.
"It's a clean hole, all right," was the response, "but I don't see any
reason why we can't patch it up to last until we get to a boat builder's
yard."
"I'm right glad to hear you say that," continued the anxious skipper,
"because, as you all know, I'm mighty fond of my boat, and would hate
like everything to have to abandon the poor old thing in this place. So
now I can eat some supper with a touch of appetite."
At any rate it was pleasant to again stretch their legs, after being
confined to the boats for several days. And Josh seemed to have enjoyed
cooking a full meal once more for the crowd.
"Now, how about that roost; do you suppose we can find it from here?"
George asked, when they were about through.
"If you still feel like going, I think it won't be a hard thing," Jack
declared.
"Count me out, please," Nick remarked. "I don't believe I care enough
about it; and, besides, somebody ought to stay here, to keep the fire
going, so you can tell where to come back."
"Huh! he's clean filled up to the top, that's what," remarked Josh; "and
when Nick gets that way, you just can't coax him to budge an inch. But
I'm with you, boys."
It was presently decided that all the others would go in the three
tenders. As Nick was given a shotgun, this time fully loaded, and ready
for business, he expressed himself as willing to stand guard.
"Anyhow," he observed, with a wide smile, "I don't reckon on having any
bear for a visitor this time. He couldn't get on this island, could he,
Jack?"
"Not in a thousand years," was the reassuring reply.
"And you can stay aboard the _Tramp_ until we come back," George went on
to say. "Only don't let that fire go out a minute, or perhaps you'll be
minus all your chums. A nice time you'd have here, all alone, wouldn't
you? Why, you'd starve to death before long with that appetite of yours,
Nick."
"Shucks! there ain't much danger of your getting lost while Jack's
along. If it depended on you, George, I'd be scared right bad now," the
fat boy got back at him as the party moved away.
They took the lighted lantern with them, and expected to be very
cautious how they managed, not wanting to lose their bearings in the
darkness. Jack had made a mental map of the vicinity, and behind that he
could find his way back to where the fire showed.
He led off, paddling with one of the oars, for when the little dinky
held two these could not be used in the ordinary fashion.
And it was not very long before the others knew that again Jack had
shown more than ordinary skill, for they reached an island where, from
the sounds, it was evident that the roost of the birds could be found.
Landing, they made their way over the exposed roots of mangroves and
cypress trees, gradually drawing near the middle of the island. And here
they found what they sought.
Jack made several torches out of some wood he found, and when these were
lighted they saw a sight that none of them would soon forget. Thousands
of birds were in the trees, many of them herons, ibis, cranes and water
turkeys.
For some time the boys looked at the spectacle. Then, tiring of it, as
well as objecting to the anything but pleasant odor of the roost, which
had long been in use they imagined, they retreated again to the boats,
after which the return trip was begun.
Nick had kept the fire going, and little trouble was experienced getting
back to where the larger craft awaited them.
The night passed quietly and with the morning they began to make
preparations looking to the repairing of the snagged _Comfort_.
Breakfast over, Jack set out with the ax, and Josh to help him, taking
two of the small boats. When he found a couple of cypress trees that he
thought would answer the purpose, over on Bird Island, as they had named
the place of the roost, he cut them down, and by hard work they towed
the intended skids to camp.
Here they were shaped, and placed in position. Then the block and
tackle, which had been carried on board the roomy _Comfort_, were
brought into play.
Jack selected the strongest mangrove within line of the boat that was to
be hauled out, when fastening the tackle.
"Here you are, now, fellows!" he declared, when all was ready.
"Come along, everybody, and take a grip on the rope," invited Herb, who
was more than anxious to get busy at the job of patching the smashed
sheathing of his boat, so they could continue their voyage.
Even Nick was made to lend the power of his muscles to the good work.
"If we could only get the full force of his weight, she'd come with a
rush," Josh had declared, though the fat boy only noticed the slur with
a smile and a nod.
"Are you all ready to pull?" asked Jack, who, being master of ceremonies,
had the leading position on the line.
"Sure we are; get busy, Jack, darlint!" sang out Jimmy.
"Then altogether now, and away we go!--one, two, three! She moved that
time, fellows, I tell you. Once more now, yo-heave-o! That was worth
talking about, and she jumped six inches. Again, and put every ounce of
muscle into it! Now, then, up with her! Another turn! That's the way to
do it, boys!" And Jack continued to encourage his mates to do their
level best until they had dragged the _Comfort_ up the skids to a point
where one could crawl underneath her exposed keel.