"Indeed we wouldn't; and when school begins in September we wouldn't
have been there either."
"We didn't cheer him half loud enough," cried Joe Chester in a fresh
spasm of gratitude. "I wonder if they could hear if we all gave one
tremendous yell. Let's try it. All together now. One, two, three."
Then followed a shout that succeeded in bringing the two men to the
vessel's side for one more salute.
"There, that will do for this time, boys; I think they know that you
appreciate their kindness," said Mr. Bernard, laughingly uncovering his
ears, after protecting them from the roar of the crowd. Leaving them on
the beach planning the day's pleasure, he returned to the tent to read
and rest.
*CHAPTER XIX.*
*IMPROVING THE TIME.*
"Only two more days, boys, and the boat will be here for us, and the
tents will have to come down," exclaimed Joe, as he stood on the beach
with a handful of pebbles, skipping one after another out over the
swimming-pool.
"That's so," said Ben, sighing over lost opportunities.
"The question is what to do first now. Shall we show Ralph and you the
sights?"
"Oh, it's jolly just to be here, Joe, without hunting up any fun!" said
Ralph, leaning back in his rocky seat. "I could lie on the rocks here,
and be comfortable, and call it a good time, too, after our dismal
experience."
"Having had that, it's all the more reason you should have all the
pleasure we can crowd into these two days," said Joe, putting his hand
on Ralph's shoulder.
"Yes," said Dave; "we must stretch these next two days over all the fun
we can."
"The archery and rifle matches come off this afternoon; but I shan't
fire another arrow till then. It is too bad your bow and rifle were
left behind, boys: but you can use my bow, Ralph; and there are plenty
of fellows in the rifle club to lend you a rifle, Ben," said Joe.
The offers followed at once, but the two boys declined, and Ben, who was
a member of the rifle club, and one of the best marksmen, said, "No,
indeed; I haven't practised for a fortnight, and I should disgrace my
record if I should join in the match to-day. No; I'll look on and
applaud."
"Let's go and swim a while, and after that take a run over to the
lighthouse," suggested Joe.
"And show the boys the place where Walt and Ned acted Robinson Crusoe,"
added Don.
"Which was Robinson, and which Friday?"
"I don't think that question was ever decided," answered Ned
good-naturedly.
"Ho, for a swim! Who will go in?" cried Fred.
"I," and "I," answered the boys, as they ran for their bathing-suits.
They soon appeared dressed in all imaginable costumes, and a band of
fantastics could hardly have been funnier. Into the water they walked
or leaped or dived, with much shouting and shrieking over the cold.
Ralph was a timid swimmer, and did not like the water well enough to
attempt any fancy motions, contenting himself with paddling about where
he could reach the shore very quickly, if he chose. Ben, however, was
strong and bold, and followed Joe and the others in diving from the
rocks and swimming under water. Nearly the whole school were in the
water together this morning, to celebrate Ralph and Ben's arrival. The
two boys from the lighthouse were there also, and under Joe's
instruction were learning to "strike out" quite boldly. Little Max was
also learning, and he shouted to his father, who sat on the rocks,
laughing at the antics of his boys, "See, father, how many strokes I can
take. Now you count. I can go 'dog paw,' too."
The time passed so quickly that the boys could hardly believe that Mr.
Bernard's watch was reliable when he gave the signal for an exodus from
the water. As usual, there was pleading for a few minutes more,--one
more dive, or one more race across the pool,--then a great splashing and
dashing and general commotion, as the multitude obeyed the order,
followed by a scamper of the dripping mermen to the tents. After
dressing, they met for further discussion as to the next thing in order,
and, after much debate, most of those who were not intending to practise
for the matches decided to go over to the lighthouse.
"Is the wreck there now?" asked Ralph.
"Yes, it's there, what there is of it, but it is 'most all to pieces,"
answered John Kramer.
"And where are the men?"
"Oh, father took them across in his boat after they had done all they
could to save things. I tell you, they were awful plucky about getting
things out. Father says he wouldn't have risked his bones on the old
hull for nobody."
"No, I don't believe he would, boy," said Walter dryly, recalling the
slowness with which he responded to their petitions for help when he and
Ned were in trouble. "Your father will never come to his death through
want of care for himself, rest sure of that, Johnny; so don't you lie
awake at night worrying about him."
The path to the lighthouse lay through that part of the pasture where
the blueberries were most plentiful and tempting, so it was long before
the boys reached their destination; and their blue mouths told the
secret of their delay.
After the lighthouse had been visited and examined, the boys led the way
to the fishing-ground, where the tide had come up over their fish and
lunches and rods. Here all began to talk together, relating the
experience of that eventful day, and though they all spoke one language,
it seemed like a second Babel, but little inferior in point of sound to
the first. Each boy having had an experience that differed a little
from his neighbour's, felt it necessary to make a statement of facts.
After a while Joe shouted above the din,--
"See here, boys, it is low tide; let's go around and see the 'Exiles'
Rock!'" and he led the way down to the spur around which Walter and Ned
had run to hide.
"Look out there! you fellows will be caught just as we were," shouted
Walter.
"No, we won't. We know too much for that," answered Dave.
"Come on and visit the scene of your fame and glory, Walt!" exclaimed
Ned.
"No, sir; the fame and glory were too slim to tempt me again," was the
laughing reply, as Walter threw himself down on the rocks to wait for
the others.
"I am going. I feel curious to know how it seems to be there again,"
and Ned ran after the other boys, who had disappeared around the spur.
"Imagine these waves ten times rougher and fiercer, leaping and roaring
away up by your very feet, with the spray flying in your faces, and you
can have some idea how Walt and I felt here," he said, after he reached
his companions; then he added, "And yet you can't; for the worst of it
all was that we didn't know where the tide would stop, or whether it
would stop at all until it had washed us off our perch."
"There couldn't be a much worse place to get caught!" exclaimed Ben,
shrugging his shoulders, as he always did, to express the feeling that
matters and things were in a bad condition.
"Let's get away from here," said Ralph. "I have had all the experience
with the raging seas that I want."
Then, with many similar comments, the crowd of boys surged back to the
place where they had left Walter.
"Now for Spouting Horn!" cried Joe. "Here, not that way. The low-tide
spouter is on this side," he added, as the boys were starting off.
"It is just about time to see the pool, too," said Fred.
"Yes, we will do both. There'll be time enough to see that after we
have watched the spout a while."
"There she blows!" exclaimed Don, as they came near the place in time to
hear the report, as the column of water shot up into the air and fell in
delicate spray.
A prolonged "Oh--h!" ending in a whistle from Ralph, expressed his
admiration of the wonderful sight; and he and Ben hastened forward to be
as near as possible before it spouted again.
"I don't want to hurry you, boys," said Joe, "but we have another sight
to show, and the tide has turned. In a little while it will be too late
to see the pool."
There was another race of the multitude, and in spite of their haste the
tide had crept nearly up to the place they had come to see. The waves
were beginning to flow up over the barrier separating the pool from the
ocean, and there was only time to secure a few specimens of star-fish
and sea-urchins, and to admire the natural aquarium; then they were
obliged to retreat before the rushing water.
Ben, who was lying flat on the rocks, trying to get possession of a
beautiful lilac-coloured sea-anemone, would not heed the shouts and
shrieks of warning from his comrades, and as a result, before he could
scramble to his feet, a succession of waves rolled over him, hiding him
from view. When the waves rolled back he was blowing the water from
mouth and nose, and laughing as heartily as those who had been
spectators of the ludicrous sight.
"The great Atlantic merman!" shouted Dave, as he rolled on the rocks in
a fit of laughter.
"I got the creature though!" Ben cried triumphantly. Then seeing the
mass of jelly in his hand, with no trace of the beauty he had sought to
seize upon, he threw it down with an expression of disgust. "Pooh! Is
that the thing? I don't want that!" he exclaimed. "Alas! I got ducked
for nothing, except to make sport for the rest of you. Well, look at me
and laugh all you want to," he added good-naturedly, as he tried to
wring himself out. There was no need to tell the boys that, and the
shrieks of laughter continued long after they started campward.
"See! see!" shouted the archers, as the boys tramped past the targets.
"A wreck! a wreck! Ben Carver rescued from the briny deep."
"Why this wetness, Benjamin?" cried Henry Burnham, as he paused, with
his arrow on the string.
"Oh, that was acquired in my thirst for science."
"Couldn't be satisfied without going into it head over heels, eh?"
"Here, come to our tent. I carried your valise there, Ben," said Joe.
"Your teeth are chattering now; I am going to get Jonas to make you some
ginger-tea. That'll warm you up, I tell you."
Away ran Joe, and by the time Ben had changed his garments, he returned
with a mug.
"Here it is, piping hot. Drink that, Ben, and I'll warrant you'll be
able to melt out the inside of an iceberg by just breathing on it."
Ben took the mug, and, after eying the contents with a comical look of
distrust, took one sip, then with a wry face he said, "Here, boys, pass
this beverage around. There's nothing mean about me. I always share my
treats. This will warm you so much, you will love even the misguided
wretch who invented logarithms."
The offer was laughingly declined, and Ben, pouring the contents on the
ledge, returned the mug to Jonas with many thanks for his liberality.
*CHAPTER XX.*
*THE TWO MATCHES.*
"Ho, for the match! Come, Dave, bring out your weapons; the boys are
gathering."
Dave quickly obeyed Joe's summons, and the two friends, with bows and
quivers, followed by Ralph and Ben, joined the archers. Fourteen boys
composed the club, and at the time appointed they, as well as the
spectators, were ready for the signal. Mr. Andrews kept the score, and
there was great excitement as the shots were registered; but in spite of
much loud talk the match ended satisfactorily to all outsiders, and to
most of the participants, for Joe Chester won. A prolonged shout
announced Joe's victory, not only to all on the island, but to vessels
far out on the water.
Before the excitement had fairly abated, the signal for the rifle match
was given, and away started the crowd to that part of the island where
the targets were set for the marksmen. Ben being one of the best of the
club, was particularly interested in this match, and he watched eagerly
the movement of every rifle, longing for his own, and the chance to use
it. Many rifles were offered to him, and every one urged him to join in
the trial of skill; but his answer was, "No, indeed; I shan't risk my
reputation now without any practice." Mr. Andrews kept the score here
also, and although there were some hot disputes over the shots, Donald
Parker was pronounced the winner of the prize.
"Now I'll try a rifle," exclaimed Ben.--"Here, Don, lend me yours."
Most of the boys were gathered in knots, eagerly discussing the match,
but at the sound of Ben's firing they gathered around him.
"Hurrah for Ben!"
"That's a good one!"
"There's another!"
He fired the same number of shots as that allowed to the club, and the
score was better than any made by the others, beating even that of the
prize-winner.
"I thought I could do it," he said, with sparkling eyes, "but I didn't
want to risk it in the match. Perhaps I couldn't have done it, either.
I shouldn't have been so cool."
The boys were too excited over the long-talked-of matches to enter upon
any other sport, and they gathered in knots on the ledges and in front
of the tents, talking about this and that rifle or bow, or the scores of
the different marksmen, comparing them with those of former matches.
"Come--to-morrow is packing-up day, and we've got to be up early.--and
have all the fun we can before the steamboat swoops down on us."
"Like a wolf on the fold," added Fred.
"Oh, that dreadful monster!" cried Max. "If it would only forget to
come."
"Or break its paddle-wheel," added Ned.
"Humph!" exclaimed Jonas, who was already beginning to pack baking-tins
and things he did not intend to use. "If she doesn't come in time,
you'll find yourself on short rations, I can tell you. We are on our
last barrel of biscuits. Haven't flour enough for more than one batch
of bread; and not a drop of treacle, even if we had the flour, for
gingerbread."
"Nor any ginger, even if we had the treacle and flour," added Ben, with
a mischievous twinkle of the eye. "Of course there is no ginger, Jonas
was so generous with that in my tea."
The boys laughed, but Jonas, indifferent to that, continued his deficit
list. "The coffee's gone, and the butter-tub is scraped clean."
"Mercy!" cried Dave. "This is getting melancholy. It's worse than
Mother Hubbard's bare cupboard."
"Yes," added Joe with a sigh. "It's nothing but a howling wilderness
here, and the sooner we get out of it the better. No, I'll take that
back. I'm willing to live on blueberries if everything else gives out.
The blueberries are plentiful still."
"Yes, and the clam-beds are not quite cleaned out," said Ben cheerily.
"A fellow that would starve on the edge of the clam-beds deserves to
die."
"I suppose there are some fish left in the sea too," suggested Max.
"Yes, a few. Very likely those the tide carried off with our baskets,
the day we had our freedom, came to life again, and are out of hospital
by this time," said Joe.--"You can't scare us, Jonas. We don't feel a
bit afraid of starving."
"No, maybe not, but you'd grumbled well if you didn't get nothin' but
fish and berries for fare. You would," answered Jonas, as he nailed
down the top of the box.
"I suppose we would," said Joe, "but I'd like to wait over and try
it.--Come on, Ralph; you and Ben can have a shake-down in our tent.--No,
you other fellows can't have them; they've taken apartments with us.
Good-night to the rest of you."
"Oh, don't leave us so soon. This is the last night. Only
think--to-morrow we shall scatter on the four winds," said Walter.
"Not to meet again till the roll is called in September," added Ned with
a doleful whistle.
"That sounds pretty bad, but I think we'll be able to bear it,
considering that we are going to our own homes," answered Joe.--"But
this has been a good time, Ralph--so much better than you or I dreamed
possible the day school closed," he added as they walked off arm in arm.
"Yes, indeed, it looked gloomy enough then; I couldn't see the way ahead
at all, and I felt that there never would be any more good times for me
in the world. I tell you, Joe, I didn't deserve to have it turn out so.
Two or three times to-day I have wondered if I am not dreaming, and if I
shall not wake up in the cabin of the _Una_ with that awful sea-sick
feeling."
"But it's no dream, old fellow," said Joe cheerily. "You are back among
us, and every boy in the crowd was glad enough to see you. Mr. Bernard,
too, was as happy as the rest of us."
"That's so queer. I thought he would never forgive me. I wonder if my
own father will? Joe, will you do me a favour? Will you stop at my
home on your way through? I'm going to tell father the whole story, and
let him know the worst of it. I want you to go along and keep my
courage up."