THE REAL KENNEBEC WAY
The young skipper of the "Panther" brushed his hand past his eyes.
It was no dream, no trick of the vision. The life-boat was overturned,
riding keel upward, while two of its crew clung desperately to the keel.
A third head could be seen bobbing on the water. What had become of the
other three human beings?
"Mr. Perkins, take command of the 'Panther,'" ordered Tom, hoarsely.
"Mr. Dawson, you and Mr. Prentiss, with two of the quartermasters and
the remaining seaman, stand by the starboard life-boat. I'll go in
charge."
All those ordered sprang to their posts. Like a flash the davits were
swung around outward, other hands loosening the lowering tackle.
"Captain, this is madness," remonstrated Mr. Baldwin. "If that boat
couldn't ride the water, this one can't."
"This one must," retorted Captain Tom. "They're our own shipmates in the
water over there. Stand by to lower!"
"Captain, I protest!" cried Baldwin.
"Get out of the way, then, sir, and do your protesting in private,"
came, sternly, from the young skipper.
Before those flashing eyes Mr. Baldwin took a step backward. At sea the
captain, not the owner, commands, and Joseph Baldwin quickly realized
it.
"Captain!" roared down Ab Perkins's voice from the bridge.
On the point of giving the lowering-away order, Tom turned to look where
the first officer pointed.
In another second Captain Halstead commanded, hoarsely:
"Stand by your posts at the davits!"
Then he darted forward along the rail, taking in the inspiring sight
that greeted his eyes.
Though Dick Davis had met with bad luck, he did not mean to let it turn
into disaster.
Seeing two of his boat's crew safe for the moment, Dick succeeded in
helping two more sailors to gain the boat. Still another was making
stubborn headway over the waves toward the side of the schooner, where
one of the crew of the wreck stood ready to cast a rope.
And now the master of the "Alert" made a splendid cast with a line that
shot far out, uncoiling until it lay across the overturned boat.
"Good old Dick!" breathed young Halstead, as he saw his second officer
catch the rope and pass the end quickly back past the others who clung
to the keel of the overturned life-boat.
The swimmer had now succeeded in reaching the rope, and was being helped
up to the schooner's deck. Dick and the remaining men, besides holding
onto the overturned boat, were slowly aiding those at the schooner's
rail to haul them to greater safety.
When Halstead saw the overturned boat made fast along under the
schooner's lee he turned to shout back:
"Swing in the davits, but stand by. We may need our boat yet."
Dick Davis, however, aided by his own men and those on the derelict, was
working hard to right the life-boat. When they succeeded a great cheer
went up from the watchers on the "Panther."
"Shall I go in closer, sir?" The question came from Parkinson, the chief
steward, who, when Captain Tom made such a draft for a second crew, had
been sent to the wheel house.
"Get your orders from the bridge," Tom called back to him.
Though Davis had lost his oars in the upset, the master of the "Alert"
was able to supply others. Now the loading of the life boat began. On
the return trip Dick was able to have six oarsmen. All hands stowed
themselves away in the life-boat, Captain Jordrey coming last of all,
with his log, papers and instruments. Then Davis gave the order to shove
off.
"Our friend is taking a big passenger contract, on such a rough sea,"
Tom muttered, uneasily, to Joe Dawson, who had joined him. "But Dick
will pull it through, if anyone can."
The life-boat, which was not of the largest size, lay low in the water
as she set out on her return. Every now and then one of the waves broke
with a choppy crest, to be succeeded by a long, rolling mass of water
that threatened to fill and overwhelm the boat. Dick Davis, however,
standing up, with one hand on the tiller and one knee against it,
handled his little craft with a master's skill.
"Your friend is a wonderfully good officer, Captain," cried Joseph
Baldwin, enthusiastically.
"Any of my other officers could do as well, sir," Tom replied, calmly.
"It's the way of the Motor Boat Club training, and its effect on boys of
sea-roving stock."
Yet there were half a dozen times, on that perilous return trip, when
those on the deck of the "Panther" held their breath, their pulses
moving faster.
At just the right moment Ab Perkins swung the craft around somewhat to
starboard, then headed in so that Dick Davis was able more quickly to
have the life-boat up under the yacht's broad lee.
Then, in a moment of relief, falls and tackle were made fast to the
boat, and the rescued men began coming up over the side like so many
squirrels.
"Where's your captain?" demanded Master Jordrey, as he came over the
side. "I want to tell him that that boy officer of his is worth a dozen
of some kinds of men I've seen."
"I'm captain here, at your service, sir," Tom announced, with a smile.
Jordrey stared hard, for Tom was plainly much younger than Davis.
"What is this?" gasped the master of the "Alert." "A juvenile orphan
asylum afloat, without the teachers? But no matter who you are, you know
how to handle boats, large and small. My respects, Captain."
The two mates, cook and crew of the schooner were pressing forward.
Costigan returned to the bridge, while Ab came down to the deck again,
attending to the hoisting and stowing of the life-boat. Halstead grasped
the hand of Dick Davis as he came over the side, looking at him with a
gaze full of appreciation.
"Where are you bound, Captain Halstead?" inquired Captain Jordrey, a man
of some forty years.
"Cruising," Tom replied. "According to the owner's whim or orders. But
we can stow your people away somewhere on the boat until we make port,
or pass some other craft in smoother water. There's an extra stateroom
forward, below, Captain Jordrey, that you can have."
There were also three berths, not in use, in the forecastle. For the
rest mattresses were laid, at need, on the forecastle floor.
"It serves my owners right to lose the schooner," grumbled Jordrey. "The
canvas was worn out. I put in a requisition for new sets of sails before
leaving port, but they wouldn't let me have them."
Joseph Baldwin approached Davis while he and Tom were talking on the
deck.
"All I want to say, Mr. Davis," explained the owner, "is that, every
time I see you Motor Boat Club boys do anything new it only makes me
more and more glad that you're on my craft."