OUT OF THE STORM
"Is there enough blue to make a Dutchman a pair of breeches?" asked
Gladys, anxiously scanning the heavens. "If there is, it will clear up
before noon."
"Well, there's enough to patch a pair, anyway," said Katherine, pointing
to a minute scrap of blue showing through a jagged rent in a gray cloud.
"A patched pair is just as good as a new one," said Gladys with easy
philosophy. "It's all right for us to go for a hike today, isn't it,
Uncle Teddy?"
"Most any day is good for a hike, if you really want to go," answered
Uncle Teddy cheerfully. "Don't I hear you girls singing:
"'We always think the weather's fine in sunshine or in snow?'"
"Oh, goody! I'm glad you think so," said Gladys.
"Mother always wants us to stay at home if it looks the least bit like
rain and when we do it usually clears up after it's too late to start.
We've all set our hearts on cutting those balsam branches today."
Uncle Teddy sniffed the air again and remarked that there was little
rain in it, so with light hearts the expedition started out. Uncle Teddy
took them across to the mainland. On this occasion there was an extra
passenger in the launch. This was Sandhelo, with his feet carefully tied
to prevent his exercising them unduly. He was to accompany the
expedition and carry the balsam branches back to the shore. The lake was
quite rough and more than once the water splashed inside the boat.
"Poor Sandhelo," said Hinpoha sympathetically. "Do you suppose he'll get
seasick? He looks so pale."
"How does a donkey look when he's pale?" jeered Sahwah. "If you mean
that white stuff on his nose, he stuck it into a pan of flour this
morning. Anyway, I never heard of a donkey getting seasick."
"That doesn't prove that they can't," retorted Hinpoha.
But Sandhelo seemed none the worse for his journey when they set him
ashore and trotted briskly along with the expedition. The balsam firs
were deep in the woods and it took some time to find them. The wind
seemed much stronger over here than it had been on Ellen's Isle--or else
it had stiffened after they left. It roared through the treetops in a
perfectly fascinating way and every little while they would stop and
listen to it, laughing as the leafy skirt of some staid old birch matron
went flying over her head.
"It seems like a million hungry lions roaring," said Hinpoha.
"Or the bad spirits of the air practising their football yells," said
Sahwah.
"There goes my hat! Catch it, somebody!" cried Katherine.
The hat did some amazing loop-the-looping and settled on a high branch,
whence it was retrieved by the Monkey with some little difficulty.
Gathering the balsam boughs was not such an idyllic process as they had
expected. In the first place, they were blowing around at such a rate
that it was hard to catch hold of them, and then when one was grasped
firmly the others lashed out so furiously that they were driven back
again and again. Furthermore, those which they did succeed in getting
off were picked up by the gale and hurled broad-cast.
"It's too windy to do anything today," said Hinpoha crossly, retiring to
the shelter of a wide trunk and holding her hands to her smarting face.
Several stinging blows from a branch set with needles had dampened her
enthusiasm for balsam pillows.
Some of the others stuck it out until they had as much as they wanted,
and after an hour or more of strenuous labor Sandhelo was finally laden
with his fragrant burden and the expedition started back.
Then they began to have their first real experience with wind. Going
into the woods it had been been at their backs and they thought it great
fun to be shoved along and to lean back against it like a supporting
hand, but going against it was an entirely different matter. It was all
they could do to stand on their feet and at times they simply could not
move an inch forward. The roaring in the treetops seemed full of menace,
and branches began to fall around them. Not far away a whole tree went
down with a sounding crash.
"We're all going to be killed!" cried Gladys hysterically, as they
huddled together at the sound of the falling tree. A wild blast that
rang like the scream of an enraged beast came like an answer to her
words, and a sapling maple snapped off like a toothpick. Sandhelo
snorted with fear and began to kick out.
"We must get out of these woods as fast as we can," said the Captain, to
whom the others had all turned for advice.
"You don't see any of us lingering to admire the scenery, do you?" asked
Katherine drily.
Terrified almost out of their senses and expecting every minute to have
a tree fall on them, they made their way toward the shore and came out
spent and exhausted and too breathless to talk. But glad as they were to
get out of the woods in safety, they were filled with dismay when they
looked at the lake. To their excited eyes the waves, black as the sky
above them, seemed mountain high.
"They'll never come for us in the launch in _that_," said Katherine
after a few moments' silent gazing, voicing the fears of the others.
"We should never have started out on a day like this," said Hinpoha.
"Why did you insist so on our coming, Gladys?"
"Well," Gladys defended herself, "Katherine said there was enough blue
to patch the Dutchman's breeches and----"
"But it was you who said that was enough to start out on," retorted
Katherine. "And you wanted the balsam boughs the worst, so it's your
fault."
"Don't let's quarrel about who's fault it was," said the Captain. "None
of us were obliged to come; we came because we wanted to. It's
everybody's fault, and what is everybody's is nobody's. We're here now
and we'll have to make the best of it."
"Maybe it will calm down before very long," said Gladys hopefully.
"Not much chance," said the Captain, "with the wind rising every
minute."
There seemed nothing else to do but wait, so they crouched behind rocks
to find shelter from the gale and tried to be patient. Every little
while a dash of spray would find someone out and then there would be a
shriek and a scramble for another rock higher up on the shore. Thus the
afternoon wore away. It had been practically twilight since noon.
"What are you doing, Captain, admiring the view?" asked Slim, when the
Captain had been looking out over the tossing lake for fully five
minutes.
"Quite some view," said the Captain, who was deeply impressed by the
ferocity of wind and wave, "but I was doing something besides admiring
it. I was thinking that it won't do us much good to sit here any longer.
The lake is getting rougher all the time and there is no hope of Uncle
Teddy's being able to come for us tonight. I think the best thing to do
would be to try to walk to St. Pierre, where we can find shelter."
"Would we be able to make it?" asked Hinpoha doubtfully, measuring the
distance that lay between them and the little cluster of toy houses that
shone ghostly white against the black sky. "It must be miles."
"Not quite three," replied the Captain. "We can make it. The wind will
be coming from the side, so we won't be walking squarely against it."
They formed a line, each boy taking a girl by the arm, and struggled
along the shore, keeping out of the woods as much as possible, and made
slow but steady progress toward St. Pierre. It was during one of their
frequent stops for breath that Sahwah, who had turned her head to look
out over the wild water, suddenly screamed, "Look!"
"It's the _Huronic_!" gasped Hinpoha, her eyes following Sahwah's
pointing finger.
Jammed up on a reef and completely at the mercy of the waves that
battered against her side lay the great steamer that only a week before
had swept so proudly through the channel. The beautiful white bird had
its wings broken now, and drooping helplessly lay exposed to the full
fury of the storm.
Hinpoha shrieked and covered her face with her hands. Horrified and
fascinated, the others watched the waves dashing high over the tilting
decks.
"Whe-e-e-w-w-w!" whistled the Captain.
"Can't we do something," said Sahwah, "run and tell somebody? Oh, don't
stand here and see that boat go to pieces!"
"What can we do?" asked Hinpoha.
Before anybody could answer her question a brilliant light suddenly
flared up a short distance ahead of them on the shore. "What's that?"
asked Hinpoha in amazement.
"Beach patrol," explained the Captain. "That's the signal that he has
sighted the ship. Now he'll run back to the life saving station that's
about a mile beyond here opposite the mouth of the channel and tell them
where the wreck is and they'll come and take the people off the ship.
See him going there, along the shore?"
In the gray darkness which followed the flash of light they could just
barely make out the figure of a man running.
"I don't see how he ever got that torch lit in this wind," said Hinpoha.
"That wasn't an ordinary torch," explained the Captain, eager to display
his knowledge of life-saving methods. "That's what they call a Coston
signal. It's a patent torch that flares up when you strike the cap
against something hard. The life-saving crew back in the station see it
and get the apparatus ready and the people on the ship see it and know
they have been sighted and help is coming."
"Oh, I'm so glad," said Hinpoha in relieved tones. "Now the poor people
on the boat won't be so frightened if they know they are going to be
saved. It must be fine to be a life saver!"
"Maybe I'll be one when I grow up," said the Captain.
"Oh, how grand!" said Hinpoha admiringly. "We'll be so proud----" Then
came a fiercer gust of wind and drowned the remainder of her sentence in
its shriek, and they plodded on in silence, covering their faces to
shield them from the whirling sand. Only a little way farther they came
upon the beach patrol sitting on the ground and rubbing his knee.
"What's the matter?" they asked, pressing around.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed in astonishment, "what are you kids doing out on a
night like this?"
"We're taking a walk," replied Sahwah and then giggled nervously when
she thought how funny that must sound. "What's the matter?" she
repeated.
"Tripped over a stone," replied the beach patrol, "and kinked my leg."
He stifled a groan as he spoke.
"Are you badly hurt?" asked Hinpoha anxiously.
The man rose to his feet and limped resolutely on his way toward the
station, but his progress was very slow. "Of all times to go lame!" he
exclaimed in bitter vexation. "There's the _Huronic_ out there on
the reef with two hundred passengers on board and there's not a minute
to lose!"
"We'll take the word to the station!" said the Captain promptly. "We can
get there lots faster than you can."
"All right," said the beach patrol briefly. He wasted no words in this
emergency when seconds were things of consequence, but made prompt use
of the assistance which had apparently been sent from heaven in the nick
of time. "Tell them she's struck on the reef off Sister Point," he
directed.
"'On the reef off Sister Point,'" they all repeated, and started forward
with as much speed as they could manage.
Then it seemed to them that the wind had shifted and was coming from the
front. In spite of valiant efforts to keep on their feet they were blown
against the rocks which strewed the shore, and bruised and battered
mercilessly.
"I can't go any farther," gasped Antha at last, sinking wearily down
behind a huge stump.
"Neither can I," said Migwan, who knew when she had reached the limit of
her strength and realized that it would be folly to attempt to keep on
to the station. Hinpoha had been panting in distress for some time, but
had kept on gamely. But now she agreed with Migwan.
"All you girls get around behind that cliff," shouted the Captain at the
top of his voice so as to make them hear, "and stay there until you're
rested. We'll go on to the station."
Katherine and Sahwah stubbornly refused to be left; the other girls
sought the shelter of the rock wall. Spurred on by the importance of
their errand the nine struggled valiantly to make headway, but it was
most discouraging work. At times it seemed as if they would be picked
off their feet bodily and whirled into space.
"Every time I go forward one step I blow back two," panted Sahwah as
they drew up in the shelter of a bluff to take a moment's breathing
spell. "Aren't we nearly there?"
"Only about a quarter of the distance," said the Captain gloomily.
"I've an idea," said Katherine suddenly.
"What is it?" asked Sahwah.
"We're not getting to the station nearly as fast as we ought to," said
Katherine, "and what's more, there's no hope of our going any faster on
foot. I'll ride Sandhelo in. He's lots stronger than we are and can hold
up against the wind where we can't. It's the only way we can get the
word to the station in time. I didn't think of riding him before,
because the beach was so rocky I was afraid he would break his leg in
the dark, but from here it seems to be smooth."
However much the boys thought it was their duty to carry the message to
the station rather than the girls', they saw the worth of Katherine's
advice. They thought of the _Huronic_ lying out on the reef,
pounded by the waves, and gave in to her at once without discussion.
All this time Katherine had been leading Sandhelo because she could hang
on to him and keep her balance when the wind threatened to sweep her off
her feet.
"Get ready for business, now, old chap," she said to him. "It's time for
your act." And, climbing on his back, she bent low over his neck and
urged him forward with a cluck and a poke.
But Sandhelo chose this crisis to indulge in a return of his artistic
temperament. Not an inch would he budge. "What shall I do?" wailed
Katherine, when all her clucking and prodding had been in vain.
"Try riding him backward the way you did that day in the circus,"
screamed Sahwah.
Katherine whirled around on her stubborn mount and unexpectedly gave his
tail a smart pull. With a snort of indignant surprise Sandhelo threw out
his legs and started forward. Katherine caught her balance from the
shock of starting, clamped her knees into his sides and hung on grimly
to the blanket that had been strapped around his middle to keep the
balsam boughs from pricking him.
Never was there a more grotesque ride for life. Instead of the beautiful
heroine of fiction galloping on a noble steed here was a lanky girl
riding backwards on a temperamental trick mule, hanging on as best she
could, holding her breath as he pounded along in the darkness, expecting
every moment that he would go down under her and praying fervently that
he would not take it into his head to stop. But Sandhelo, under the
impression that he was running away from something, kept on going from
sheer fright, and as his early life had been spent waltzing on a
revolving platform, he was able to keep a footing where any other steed
would have broken his legs.
He would not even stop when they came to the life-saving station, and
Katherine had to roll off as best she could, landing in the sand on her
face.
"Whoa, there!" shouted half a dozen voices, and the surfmen who stood
anxiously waiting for the return of the patrol caught his bridle and
brought him to a standstill. Katherine panted out her message, and then
refusing the invitation of the keeper to go inside the station, she
followed the crew as they dragged the beach wagon to the point on the
shore opposite the wreck.
From their various shelters along the way the rest of the Winnebagos
came out and joined her, all eager to see the work of rescuing the
stranded passengers.
Hinpoha exclaimed in dismay when the small cannon was brought out and
aimed at the ship. "They're going to shoot the passengers!" she cried,
clutching the Captain by the arm.
"No, they aren't," the Captain assured her hastily. "They're going to
shoot the line out to the ship. That's the way they rig up the
breeches-buoy. Now you watch. I'm going to see if I can help. That
fellow with the twisted knee is out of it."
Without getting in the men's way, the Captain watched his chance, and
when it came time to man the whip that hauled the breeches-buoy out to
the vessel he took a hand with the crew and pulled lustily. After that
he worked right along with the men and they were glad of his help, for
the loss of the one surfman was holding them back. The other boys also
did what they could to help, and the bringing to shore of the passengers
proceeded as rapidly as possible.
The memory of that night was ever after like a confused dream in the
minds of the Winnebagos and Sandwiches; a nightmare of howling wind and
dashing waves and inky darkness out of which came ever increasing
numbers of people to throng the shore.
The wrecking of a passenger vessel was a much more serious matter than
the destruction of a freighter, where there would only be the crew to
bring ashore. The _Huronic_ carried two hundred passengers and as
it was impossible for any boat to get alongside of her to take them off,
they all had to be taken ashore in the breeches-buoy or the life car.
Other lines were shot out after the first one and other rescue apparatus
set up. From the position of her lights it could be seen that the
_Huronic_ was listing farther to the leeward all the time. The life
savers worked untiringly and the throng of rescued grew apace.
Entirely forgetting their own fatigue from their long tramp against the
wind, the Winnebagos and Sandwiches moved among the crowd, lending
sweaters, coats and scarfs to shivering women, taking crying children in
tow and finding their distracted parents, and doing a hundred and one
little services that helped materially to bring a semblance of order out
of the wild confusion.
Hinpoha had just restored a curly-haired three-year old to his
hysterical mamma when a man came up to her and said, "Will you bring
your flashlight over here, please? My wife has dropped her watch."
Hinpoha obligingly turned aside with him and approached a woman kneeling
in the sand, searching. "This young lady will help you find it,
Elizabeth," said the man.
"That's encouraging," replied the woman in a voice which made Hinpoha
give a great start and hastily flash the little circle of light on her
face. The next moment she flung herself bodily on top of her with a
great shriek.
"Nyoda! Where on earth did you come from? Nyoda! _Nyoda_!"
"Hinpoha!" cried the young woman in the sand, clinging to her in
amazement, while the man who had addressed Hinpoha gave vent to a long
whistle.
"Why, it's the immortal redhead!" he exclaimed. "I didn't know you in
the dark at all."
"It's the first time anybody ever said they didn't know me in the dark,"
said Hinpoha, laughing. "I didn't know you either without that famous
mustache. Sahwah!" she called. "Gladys! Come here quick!"
The Winnebagos had often pictured to themselves what their reunion with
Nyoda would be like when she made them the faithfully promised visit the
following year, but none of them had ever dreamed it would come so soon
or be like this. In the feeble light of their pocket flashes they
crowded around her, behind a point of the cliff which kept some of the
wind away, and all talked at once as they bubbled over with joy at the
meeting, and Sherry, against whom they had vowed eternal warfare for
stealing their beloved guardian away, came in for his share of
handshaking and rapturous greeting.
"Where were you going?" "What were you doing on the _Huronic_?"
"Why didn't you let us know you were so near?" "Did you intend to stop?"
"How does it feel to be shipwrecked?" "Were you scared when they took
you off the boat?" asked six voices at once.
Nyoda laughed and threw up her hands in a gesture of protest. "Have
mercy!" she pleaded. "Send up your questions in single file." Then she
told how Sherry had been instructed to go to Chicago when they were up
in Duluth and they had chosen to come down by water, and were having a
most delightful trip on the _Huronic_ when it was so rudely ended
by the storm. Her tale was somewhat disconnected, for she was constantly
being interrupted by outbursts of delight at seeing her again and
anxious inquiries as to whether she was cold, all more or less
accompanied by caresses.
During one of these pauses, when she was being nearly smothered in a
mackinaw by the over-solicitous Hinpoha, a voice was heard nearby,
saying, "First we see Jim's signal light go off and we knowed there was
a wreck somewhere. We was wondering why he didn't come back to report
when all of a sudden up comes a reg'lar giraffe of a girl on board an
imitation mule. She was sittin' facin' the stern an' listin' hard to
starboard. She tries to make port in front of the station, but the mule
he heads into the wind an' she jumps overboard."
The Winnebagos shouted with laughter at this description of Katherine's
arrival at the station with the great news. "Sh-h, maybe he'll tell some
more," said Sahwah, trying to quiet the others down. But the loquacious
surfman had moved out of earshot and they heard no more of his tale.
Another voice was speaking now, a crisp voice that held a note of
impatience. "No conveyance available to take me to St. Pierre? How
annoying! How far did you say it was? Two miles? In this wind----"
The voice broke off, but the speaker moved forward toward the little
group behind the bluff. Just then a searchlight that had been set up on
the beach fell upon him. It was Judge Dalrymple.
"Papa!" cried Antha, starting up.
The judge whirled around, startled. "Where did you come from?" he asked.
Antha dragged him over to the rest and then there were more exclamations
of astonishment that the judge had also been a victim of the wreck.
The night wore away while all the adventures were being told, and the
gray dawn saw the last of the rescued passengers finding their friends
and relatives in the crowd, while the surfmen gathered up their
paraphernalia and piled it into the beach wagon. The wind was abating
its force and a weary-eyed procession was setting out in the direction
of St. Pierre.
The Winnebagos and Sandwiches were a procession all to themselves, led
by the stately judge with a twin hanging on each arm. Behind him came
Nyoda and the adoring Winnebagos like Diana surrounded by her maidens,
while Katherine stalked in the rear of the parade leading the
angel-faced Sandhelo, on whose back she had set a tired youngster.
"What a terrible, wicked wind that was," said Gladys, looking from the
wreck of the magnificent _Huronic_ to the uprooted trees lying
everywhere along the edge of the woods.
"But it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good," said Hinpoha, as she
embraced Nyoda for the hundred and nineteenth time.