A Runaway Brig Or An Accidental Cruise Part 10

That the old sailor had gained the Bonita's deck with wonderful celerity could be told from the shouts of inquiry which he uttered in rapid succession; and before the first bewilderment, caused by the shock, had pa.s.sed away, Jim was outside the pilot-house trying to answer the questions.

"Steamer ahoy! What's the matter?" Bob shouted.

"I don't know; but it seems as if the tug has exploded somewhere!"

"That can't be if she's still afloat," Bob cried testily, and from the sound of his voice Jim knew he was making his way toward the rail.

"I must have fallen asleep for a second, an' was awakened by bein'

knocked down," Jim said penitently.

At that instant a dark figure could be seen coming from the engine-room, and a faint voice cried:

"One of the boiler-tubes blew out when we struck the rock. Somebody must help draw the fires, for I'm burned pretty bad about the arms and face."

"Struck a rock?" Bob shouted fiercely, as he made his way toward Joe, who had retreated aft to free his lungs of the deadly vapor. "Are we aground, Jim?"

"Not that I know of," the young fisherman replied in a tone of bewilderment. "My eyes couldn't have been shut more'n a minute; an'

there was nothin' in sight when I closed 'em."

"Get out the lead-line while I see if Joe is hurt very much."

The steam was yet pouring from the engine-room in such volumes as to prevent a view from either side, and Jim groped his way to the brig, Walter following close at his heels like one dazed. Master Libby remembered having seen the lead-line under the port rail forward, and but a short search was necessary to find it. Fully expecting they were yet in deep water, he reeled off twenty fathoms or more before casting, and to his surprise the greater portion remained on the rail instead of slipping through his fingers.

"Why, we're--we're on a shoal!" he stammered as he pulled in the cord until the weight could be felt. "There isn't much more than two fathoms out."

"An' as the brig don't draw less'n fourteen or fifteen feet, we can count on your havin' slept pretty nigh through the whole watch!" Bob said sharply.

Jim made no reply. He realized now that his eyes must have been closed many minutes instead of one, and was well aware that all which had happened was the result of his own carelessness.

"I'm in for it now," he whispered disconsolately to Walter. "Even if Bob don't use up a rope's end on my back I'll know that by goin' to sleep I've shut off our chances of gettin' home."

"I must be just as much to blame as you," Walter replied, in a trembling voice. "My business was to stand watch, and the very first thing I did was to go to sleep."

"But I had the helm, you see, an' oughter kept the sharpest lookout. I wish Bob would turn to an' give me the worst whalin' I ever got, 'cause it seems as if it might make me feel better."

"Can't we get the brig off somehow?" Walter asked with a sob.

"Seein's how the crew's so slim it don't seem very likely, an' everybody will say I cast 'em away when we was sure of gettin' home."

"They'll have to say the same of me," Walter added, as if this thought might give his companion some consolation. "Let's go an' have it out right away."

With clasped hands the two boys walked aft, fully expecting to receive a terrible punishment for their almost criminal carelessness; but no blows, however severe, could have caused as much pain as was already in their hearts.

Time was too precious just then for the old sailor to spend any with the authors of this last trouble, even had he been so disposed. Matters in the engine-room required immediate attention, and Joe was ready to venture amid the scalding vapor once more; therefore he followed, to render all possible a.s.sistance.

"Bend your head low, and keep this bit of waste over your mouth," the engineer said, thrusting a roll of cotton-threads in the sailor's hand as he went below.

The engine-room was filled with steam, to breathe which would be severe agony, if not death; but neither of the brave fellows faltered. By keeping their faces covered as much as possible they were able to continue on, groping their way amid what would have seemed like a dense fog but for the intense heat, while the roaring of steam as it escaped gave warning of further disaster if precautionary measures were much longer delayed.

Bob was unfamiliar with the interior of the tug; therefore it was necessary the engineer should lead the way, and after no slight trouble they succeeded in reaching the boiler from which the vapor was pouring in clouds.

The most important work was to draw the fires, and by following Joe's example Bob so far aided in this that five minutes later the glowing coals were in the ash-pan or strewn on the cement flooring immediately in front of the furnace door.

Short though this time was, it seemed very long in such a place, and ten seconds after the task had been accomplished the two were leaning over the rail aft, drinking in long draughts of pure, cool air.

When they had recovered from the effects of the heat sufficiently to pay attention to their surroundings, it was possible to see where Jim's carelessness had brought the brig and tug. The steam had thinned down until it hardly obstructed their view, and at the same time day had been approaching so rapidly that near-by objects could be plainly distinguished.

The brig was on a level keel in the cove of a small island, or key, the low-lying land, which was covered with luxuriant vegetation, hardly more than three hundred yards distant in either direction. Had Jim tried to steer her into this sheltered spot he could not have done it more exactly; and the fact that she would lie there without thumping, except when the wind blew from the east, was the only bit of comfort Bob could extract from the situation.

The boys were on the Bonita's forecastle silently gazing at the odd foliage everywhere around, while Joe and the old sailor stood on the after deck of the tug, the latter saying, as he concluded a long survey of the scene:

"It might be worse, for a fact; but I reckon both crafts will be tied up here till we're sick of lookin' at mangrove trees."

"Where do you suppose we are?" Joe asked.

"This must be some part of the Bahamas. Look at the keys all around.

There is but one other place anywhere near the spot we oughter be which shows up like it, an' that is the Florida reefs. We couldn't a' made them without sightin' Cuba or the Bahamas, consequently we must be further to the nor'ard."

"Should we be near any seaport?"

"Na.s.sau is somewhere about; but it may be two or three hundred miles away, an' seein's how I can't take an observation, we wouldn't know whether it was north or south. Did you get burned very bad?"

"I thought so at first," Joe replied with a laugh; "but I guess it's only skin deep--more painful than serious."

"You got out of it luckily; how can the engine be patched up again?"

"If no more damage has been done than the blowing out of a tube I will soon have it in working order."

"We'll get something to eat, and then see what's to be done. Jim!" he added, raising his voice, "cook the best breakfast you know how, to make up for this mess you've brought us into."

Master Libby, who had been expecting a sound rating at the very least, because of his carelessness, was so thoroughly surprised at the friendly tone that he lost no time in obeying this order, and, as a partial atonement for his misdeeds, prepared a meal which in quant.i.ty and variety would have been sufficient for twenty hungry men.

The sorrow which all hands felt because of the disaster did not prevent them from doing full justice to the unskillfully prepared food, and the table had been relieved of a large portion of its burden before any attempt at conversation was made.

"While you're seein' how much damage has been done to the tug, me an'

the boys will get an anchor out aft so's the brig can't work further insh.o.r.e." Bob said to the engineer. "If you can get up steam, an' the tug's afloat, it oughtn't take very long to pull us off this sand-bank."

"So far as I know it's only a case of blowing out one of the tubes," Joe replied.

"Can it be fixed without much work?"

"Yes, by driving in a piece of soft wood to hold the steam; but of course it'll make no end of bother until it is repaired properly. For a job like pulling the Bonita off the mud a plug will be as serviceable as a new tube, which can't be had until we reach some port."

"Then you're to find out exactly what's needed, an' after the brig is in deep water agin we can lay here a day or two to get things ship-shape.

Perhaps some craft will come in sight, an' we'll be able to find out just where we are."

"I'll let you know----"

Joe stopped speaking suddenly as what sounded very like a human voice rang out on the still air, and in obedience to his gesture all listened intently until it was repeated.