THE ACCIDENT.
BOTH Charley and Walter had by this time become quite familiar with
their little engine and when trouble with it occurred, as it sometimes
did, it generally took them but a short time to locate what was wrong
and fix it.
They had covered perhaps half the distance back to the inlet when the
steady throb, throb of the engine changed suddenly to a whirling roar.
Charley hastily threw the switch, shutting off the spark, and the big
fly wheel instantly ceased its wild revolutions.
"Something has come loose," he announced. "Hand me that wrench, Walt.
The shaft must have come loose to make the engine turn up at that
speed."
His chum handed him the desired tool and the lad raised up the false
flooring in the launch's bottom which hid the shaft from view.
What he expected to find was that one of the screws which fastened the
propeller shaft had come loose and needed tightening, but what he saw
filled his face with dismay. Rising, he stepped back to the stern and
peered over under the launch's counter.
"Our propeller's gone," he announced, straightening up. "That leaves
us in a pretty fix--five miles from shore. We'll have to take some of
these bottom boards and paddle in, and it's going to be slow, hard
work."
"I wonder how it happened," said Walter, as he fell to work with a
heavy board for a paddle.
"It didn't happen. It was just done," his chum said, grimly. "Evidently
our friend Hunter got home before we expected him. He must have done it
last night when we were all asleep."
"Are you sure?" inquired Captain Westfield.
"As sure as a person can be who did not actually see it done. The shaft
was sawn three-fourths in two. The cut part is bright, showing that it
was done recently. It was a clever trick all right. You see, it would
not give way immediately but would wear in two, gradually, where it was
cut. I guess he was in hopes it would break with us out in a seaway
where we couldn't do anything. Luckily, it's happened when it is calm
and we are not such a great ways from shore."
But although the distance to shore was not so very great, it did not
take them long to realize that it was going to take them a long time to
cover it. The launch was deep and heavy in the water and with their
rude, heavy, ungainly paddles they could only force her forward very
slowly.
"It's going to be after dark when we reach the inlet," the captain
said, anxiously. "I do not believe we are making over half a mile an
hour."
Indeed, they were not making as good progress as that, for when
dark settled down upon the water, they were a full three miles from
shore and their arms and backs were beginning aching with the steady
strain of wielding the heavy boards. Soon after the sun set, the wind
commenced to freshen and the launch began to bob and drift about in a
way to discourage further effort.
"It's no use trying any longer," Charley declared, at last. "We are not
getting ahead any and are just wearing ourselves out for nothing."
"We might as well put over the anchor and make up our minds to stay
here all night," the captain agreed.
Walter dropped over the anchor and let out all the cable. "There isn't
any too much rope," he announced, doubtfully. "The water's deep here. I
guess, though, it will hold all right if it does not blow any harder."
So far there was nothing very alarming in the situation. The launch
rode easily and high, shipping no water, and they knew that if it were
not at their dock in the morning the Roberts boys would notice their
absence and be out looking for them. They had a couple of jugs of fresh
water aboard, and there was enough of their dinner remaining to make
a substantial lunch. This Chris now brought out and all ate heartily,
their appetites whetted by the hard work they had done.
As soon as they had finished, Charley brought out a lot of old sacks
they had in a locker and spread them out in the little cabin. "Early to
bed, early to rise," he quoted cheerfully. "I guess we might as well
turn in. There is nothing to sit up for."
They were all tired enough to agree to this and they all laid down,
side by side. The launch's high sides and little cabin protected them
from the wind and they were quite comfortable. Walter and Chris were
almost instantly asleep, and Charley was just on the verge of dropping
off when a movement of the captain roused him. He raised up and looked
around.
The old sailor had arisen and was standing out in the cockpit gazing at
the sky.
The lad crept out softly and joined him.
"What's the matter, Captain?" he inquired, anxiously.
"I don't just like the feel of this weather," said the old sailor,
uneasily. "The wind is freshening all the time although it's doing it
so slowly one hardly notices it. I am afraid we are in for more than a
cap full of wind."
"I don't think so," Charley disagreed. "Why, the sky is as clear as a
bell all around. There's not a sign of a cloud."
"I hope you are right. It don't always take clouds to make a wind,
though, lad. Some of the worst gales I ever saw came out of a clear
sky."
"If it comes on to blow hard we will not be able to hang at anchor,"
Charley said, thoughtfully, impressed by the old sailor's uneasiness.
"No, the anchor won't hold in this deep water," agreed the sailor.
"Even if it did catch on a ledge of rock and keep from dragging, we
would have to cut loose if the sea ran high. With one short cable it
would help to pull our bows under."
"What direction do you think will the gale come from, if it comes at
all?" the lad inquired.
"From the same quarter the wind's blowing now," the captain replied,
promptly. "That's the only good feature about a clear gale, the wind
never shifts or varies but blows steady from one point."
"Let's see," said Charley, considering. "It's blowing from the
north-west now. That would neither drive us ashore nor out to sea, but
straight down the coast."
"We might hit some of the capes or cays way down the coast if the
launch lasted to drift that far," said the old sailor.
"Well," said Charley, philosophically, "if it comes, it comes. If it
doesn't, it doesn't. We can't do any good by sitting up worrying and
watching for it, so I am going to turn in."
He crept softly in and laid down by Walter and was soon fast asleep.
He was suddenly wakened out of a sound slumber by being thrown against
the launch's side with a force which knocked the breath from his body.
He tried to rise to his feet but was flung violently to the other side.
Then on hands and knees, like an infant, he crawled out of the little
cabin.
Once in the open, it took him but a second to grasp what had happened.
The launch had parted her cable and was now rolling helplessly in the
trough of the seas which were now running high. In the darkness, he
could just distinguish the captain in the bow. With difficulty, owing
to the violent lurching and plunging, he crept forward to his side.
The old sailor was working frantically to rig up a sea anchor with
which to bring the launch's bow up in the wind.
"Get me some of those bottom boards, and tear up some of the lockers,
too, if you can break them loose," he commanded. "We will need every
stick we can get to hold her bows to the seas."
The lad crept aft and soon returned with an armful of boards he had
torn loose. Returning again for more, he met Walter and Chris, who,
also rudely awakened from their slumber, had made their way out of the
cabin. With their assistance, all the loose boards they could get were
soon carried up to the captain who, as fast as they were brought, bound
them firmly with rope into one solid bundle.
"There ought to be more, but perhaps these will do," said the old
sailor, as he fastened the last plank to its fellows.
He pulled in the trailing end of the severed cable, and, making it fast
to the bundle of planks, shoved them over the bow. Then all three crept
back aft and anxiously awaited results.
For some minutes, they feared that their labors had been in vain, then,
slowly, the launch's bow swung around to meet the seas and she rose and
fell easily without the sickening lurching from side to side.
"All's well, so far," the captain announced, "but this is only the
beginning. It has hardly commenced to blow yet. She can ride out these
seas all right, but if this wind keeps on increasing, by morning there
will be seas that are seas."
The boys glanced around at the watery mountains tumbling about them and
decided that they cared not to see any bigger.
The wild plunging of the launch made sleep impossible and the four
huddled together in the little cockpit wondering if day would find them
alive or swallowed up by the hungry waters.
As the hours crept slowly by, they could not doubt that the wind
was steadily rising. The seas grew steadily in size and the launch's
pitching became wilder and wilder. Accustomed as they all were to the
sea, the violent plunging gave them a feeling of nausea closely akin to
seasickness. To add to their discomfort, the madly plunging launch sent
up showers of spray which the wind drove in upon them soaking them to
the skin and stinging their faces like hail.
"She would not float a minute if we were out in the open gulf," the
captain observed. "As it is, we are drifting down the coast in between
the reef and the shore and the reef breaks some of the force of the
seas. A little shift of the wind and we would either be driven out over
the reef or upon a rock shore."
"Cheery prospect either way we look at it," Charley said, grimly.
"Heads we win, tails we lose."
No one was in any mood for further conversation. Wet, miserable,
wretched and anxious, they huddled close together in the little cockpit
and waited longingly for the coming of day.
At last, a gray light spread over the rolling waters and grew brighter
and brighter till finally the sun peeped slowly into view.
It came up grandly in a blue sky unflecked by clouds, revealing a scene
wilder than they had imagined in the blackness of the night.