HALF A GALE
In an incredibly short space of time a heavy sea was running, and the
big ship, which at its dock had seemed so solid and immovable, was
tossed about almost wholly at the will of the angry waves. The bow would
rise up and up as it met a rushing hill of frothing green water, then,
as the giant wave rushed astern, the bow would dip, and the whole vessel
would seem to be coasting down into a frothing valley. Crests of the big
rollers, picked up and flung aboard by the howling wind, drenched any
hardy soul who ventured on deck. Sometimes the bow would not lift
quickly enough to an onrushing wave, and the water would crash down on
the forecastle with a tremendous impact and rush aft, sweeping any
movable object along with it.
The engines were throttled down to “half speed ahead,” which eased the
laboring of the vessel somewhat. Night fell early over a wild and
desolate waste of tossing waters, and even the three carefree boys were
sobered somewhat as they gazed through tightly bolted portholes at the
scene without. Lee was frankly seasick again, and even Bobby and Fred
had to admit that they “felt a little off.”
“But anyway, a storm like this isn’t likely to last long,” remarked
Bobby. “It came up in a hurry, and likely will go down just as fast.”
“It can’t go too fast to suit me,” groaned Lee, “‘A life on the rolling
deep’ may be all right for some people, but it rolls entirely too much
to be popular with me.”
“Not to mention how deep it is when the ship happens to sink,” said
Fred. “Whether we like it or not, we’ve got to admit that the man who
wrote that poetry knew what he was talking about.”
“Well, it’s time for supper, and I’m going to have some,” said Bobby.
“What do you say, fellows? Are you with me?”
“Guess you’ll have to count me out,” replied the boy from the South. “I
don’t think food and I will ever be friends again.”
Bobby and Fred managed to satisfy their appetites, although the dishes
persisted in dodging here and there in a most disconcerting manner, and
never seemed to be satisfied until they had settled themselves
comfortably in some one’s lap. Most of the passengers were keeping to
their staterooms, and taken altogether, the meal was not exactly a
cheerful affair. All three of the boys turned into their berths soon
afterward, and by dint of wedging themselves in with pillows and rolled
up articles of clothing, managed to get a fairly good night’s rest.
In the morning the wind appeared to have blown itself out, and as the
boys were dressing a weak and watery shaft of sunlight came streaming
through the porthole.
“That certainly looks good to me,” said Lee, who still looked rather
pale and unhappy. “If ever I get back on dry land, I’m going to stay
there a while.”
“It won’t feel bad for a change,” admitted Fred, “and with a little luck
we ought to make it in another day or two. We’d have gotten in without
this delay if it hadn’t been for the storm.”
After breakfast the boys went on deck, and found the ocean much
moderated, although still far from calm. After a little, they found
themselves near the door of the wireless room, and were soon chatting
with the operator on duty, who seemed to be a genial sort of fellow. He
and the boys were soon on the best of terms, and he explained the
workings of some of the simpler parts of the apparatus.
“I suppose a night like last night keeps you fellows pretty busy,
doesn’t it?” inquired Bobby.
“Yes, we have to be right on the job,” answered Quinn, the wireless
operator, “although last night wasn’t as bad as many I’ve been through.
We didn’t get an S. 0. S. call once.”
“From the way this ship was acting,” said Lee, ruefully, “I should think
it would be more likely that we would be sending a call for help instead
of receiving it.”
“Why, that wasn’t any more than a brisk breeze compared to some of the
blows I’ve been through,” said Quinn. “I remember one night on the North
Sea when it really did blow some. And as far as that goes, I’m willing
to bet that everybody else on that ship remembers it, too.”
“Was it so very bad, then?” inquired Bobby.
“Well, at that time I was doing duty on a converted yacht. We were
guarding a convoy, and one by one the other patrol boats made for port,
being unable to stay out any longer. But our captain refused to give up,
and finally we were the only boat left. Well, the wind kept blowing
harder and the seas rising, until the only wonder is that we weren’t
swamped altogether. Tremendous seas were following us, and at last one
monster came right aboard over the after rail. It slammed up against the
wireless shack, and before we knew what had happened, we and the shack
were carried bodily forward. We thought that our last minute had come,
but, luckily for us, the wireless house was slammed up against the
forward deck house. Then it went to pieces entirely. I made a grab for
the first thing my hand met, which happened to be a mast stay, and hung
on for all I knew how. It seemed to me that I was under water for an
age, but the big wave finally passed, and I crawled back to the deck
more dead than alive. Yes, that was a real rough night at sea, I’ll
admit.”
“How about the other wireless men?” queried Fred. “Did they come through
all right?”
“Well, by a miracle neither was swept overboard, but Pearsall, who had
just joined the ship a week or two before, broke his right arm. But he
considered himself lucky to be alive at all. We all did, for that
matter.”
“I should think you would be,” said Bobby, “and I suppose you had plenty
of other narrow escapes besides that one.”
“Plenty is right,” assented Quinn, “Why, I remember one winter afternoon
we got an S.O.S. from a munition ship that had caught fire. It was some
eighty miles to the west of us, and by the time we reached it, it was
right on the edge of dark. When we got there, the fire was at its
height. Most of their boats had been wrecked by the explosions of
ammunition as the fire reached it, and most of the crew were in the
water, some with life preservers, and others clinging to bits of
floating wreckage. It was like going through a barrage to get near them.
But we lowered our boats and finally got the last man safely aboard.
Then we steamed away at a rate the old hooker had never hit up before,
because we knew that when the fire reached the main hold there would be
a blowup that would pretty well clean everything that happened to be
around right off the water. And we weren’t a bit too soon either,
because we hadn’t covered more than half a mile when the blazing wreck
exploded with a slam that you could hear for fifty miles. As it was, we
were pretty well shaken up, but got off without any serious damage. But
it was pretty ticklish business while we were cruising round a cable’s
length away, picking the crew out of the water.”