Bob the Castaway Part 18

"He's. .h.i.t us!" cried Bob, trying not to laugh.

"Quick! Get me a life-preserver!" exclaimed Mr. Tarbill. "A life-preserver! The ship is sinking!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "A life-preserver! The ship is sinking!"]

"What's all the excitement about?" suddenly asked Captain Spark, appearing at the head of the ladder that led to the quarterdeck.

"The ship has been struck by a monster whale!" exclaimed the nervous pa.s.senger, "He's rammed us, captain, and I'm going to get a life-preserver! Then I must save my valuables in my cabin!"

He rushed from the deck, while the captain, with a grim look on his face, glanced at Bob, who burst into laughter.

CHAPTER XIV

MR. TARBILL GETS A SHOCK

"This is one of your 'jokes,' I suppose," remarked the captain.

"Yes. It was too funny," answered Bob. "He really believed a whale was after us."

"Do you think it was a good thing to do, alarm him so?"

"I--er--well, I thought it might do his nerves good," stammered Bob.

"Hum!" murmured the captain. "I must say, Bob, you have a queer idea of what is good for the nerves. Now I can't allow this. Mr.

Tarbill is a guest of mine, and I will not have his comfort interfered with. He is taking a voyage for his health, and I don't want him annoyed."

"I'm sorry," began Bob, always ready to repent, though usually it did not last long.

"Then don't do it again."

"I'll not, sir. I didn't think he'd believe me."

"He knows very little about the ocean. In fact, there are some things you don't know, and, if they wanted to, some of the old sailors could spin you yarns that would make your hair stand up."

"I wish they would then," said Bob. "I like sea stories, captain."

"I guess I'll have to take stronger measures with him," thought the commander as he walked forward.

A few minutes later Mr. Tarbill rushed up on deck. He had a life-preserver strapped about him, and in either hand was a valise, while over his shoulder was some spare clothing he had not had time to pack in the satchels.

"Are the lifeboats ready?" he asked of Mr. Carr, who was the first person he met on deck.

"The lifeboats? What for?"

"Why, the ship has been rammed by a whale and is sinking."

"Who told you so?"

"That boy, Bob Henderson."

"I thought so!" exclaimed the mate. "That's one of his so-called 'jokes.' There's no danger, Mr. Tarbill. That was only a big wave that hit us. You are perfectly safe."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite sure."

"Don't you think I had better see the captain and ask him about it before I take off my life-preserver?"

"Oh, no; there is no need of that. The ship is in no danger," and the mate tried not to smile at the nervous pa.s.senger's fears.

"Then if you say so I'll go and take this life-preserver off. It is quite heavy."

"Do so by all means. The young rascal," added the mate under his breath as he thought of Bob. "I'll have to teach him a lesson."

Bob was not a little alarmed at the result of his thoughtless prank. He did not know what the captain might do to punish him, and in the future he resolved to restrain his impulses.

"Maybe he'll send me home by some pa.s.sing ship," the boy thought, "and I wouldn't like that a bit."

The weather was fine for the next few days. The _Eagle_ continued on her way south, the climate getting warmer and warmer as they approached the equator. Bob meanwhile had learned much about the ship and the manner of sailing it. He got the names of the various ropes and sails by heart, and it would have taken a pretty ingenious sailor to have sent him on a foolish errand now after some part of the ship's gear. Captain Spark was encouraged by Bob's behavior, and began to think the voyage was doing the lad good. So it was, but the cure was not complete, as you shall see.

Mr. Tarbill resented Bob's joke, and had not spoken to the boy since the "whale" incident. But Bob did not mind this. There was plenty to keep him occupied, with his duties to perform and sailors' stories to listen to.

When they were out about two weeks there came a day when there was only the lightest breeze, The _Eagle_ barely had steerageway over the sea, which was as quiet and still as a small lake. The blue waters sparkled in the bright sun, and as Bob lounged about on deck he felt a lazy contentment which was probably caused by the near approach to the tropical zone.

He looked up at the towering masts, and an idea came to him.

"If I could climb up there," he said, "I could have a fine view. I ought to be able to see a vessel from that height. Guess I'll do it. I never tried it, but it looks easy, and there's not enough motion to pitch me off."

With Bob, usually, to think was to act. Looking around to see that neither the captain nor the mates were in sight to forbid him, he stepped to the rail, mounted Into the shrouds, or ladders, that are formed by the wire ropes supporting the mast, and was soon ascending toward the maintop, the highest point of the largest mast.

It was rather difficult work, but Bob kept on and soon was a great distance above the deck. He looked around him, noted several ships which were not visible from below and then glanced down. He saw Mr. Tarbill come out on deck, and then, more in good spirits than because he wanted, to cause the nervous pa.s.senger a scare, Bob gave a great shout. Mr. Tarbill looked up, saw the boy far in the air, clinging to what, at that distance, Seemed but a slender stick, and then he cried:

"Quick! Somebody come quick!"

"What is it?" shouted Mr. Carr, thinking from the tones of Mr.

Tarbill's voice some one had fallen overboard.

"That boy! That awful boy!" replied the nervous man.

"What about him? Is he overboard? Which side? I'll throw him a life-preserver!"

"No, he isn't overboard! He's up there! On the mast! Oh!

Suppose he falls! My nerves are in such a state! This is an awful shock! What a dreadful boy! I wish he had never come aboard this ship, or else that I hadn't!"

"Come on up!" cried Bob, all unconscious of the excitement he had created. "It's fine up here!"