Dorothy on a House Boat Part 9

"Dear lady; it won't mean that. Even if it had to do it would be all right--for me, at least. I should have some beautiful things to remember always."

Then the cheerfulest of whistling was heard; Cap'n Jack's warning that he was coming down the stairs and that any feminines in night attire might take warning and flee.

But n.o.body fled, and Dorothy tried to turn on the electric light which had been one of the fine features of this palatial house-boat. No radiance followed, and, watching from the doorway, Cap'n Jack triumphantly exclaimed:

"Didn't I know it? What's them new-fangled notions wuth in a case o'

need? Taller's the stuff, or good, reli'ble whale-ile. Well, ship's comp'ny, how'd ye like it? Warn't that the purtiest leetle blow 't ever you see? Didn't I warn ye 'twas comin'? Yet ye went an' allowed I warn't no real captain and couldn't run a boat like this easy as George Washin'ton! Now you're wiser. That there leetle gale has larnt ye all somethin'. And 'nough said. Give old Jack a couple o' sail or so an' a man to climb the riggin' an' he'll beat all the steam engines ever was hatched. Oh! I'm just feelin' prime. That bit o' wind has blowed all the land-fog out o' my head an' left it clear as gla.s.s.

"'A life on the ocean wave, A home on the rolling de-e-ep.'"

The old man's rich voice trailed off toward the tender--or where the tender should have been--while a clear and boyish one took up the ditty from the roof above, with:

"'Where the scattered waters rave And the wi-i-inds their vigils ke-e-ep!'"

"Melvin! Jim! Gerald! Are you all up there? Come down, come down!"

"Yes, Captain Dolly! Coming! Here!" shouted Melvin, rattling down the crooked stair, while Jim's voice responded: "Present!" and Gerald finished with a merry: "Accounted for!"

Then Aurora ran to meet her brother and to kiss him with an unexpected affection. To his credit it was that he gently returned her caress, but laughed at her statement that she had feared he was drowned.

"Not a bit of it! But this doesn't look much like mourning, if you did!" he jested, pointing at the white silk frock she had again put on.

"Well, it was the first one I got hold of. That's why. But, tell--tell--how came you up there?"

"Yes, everything, tell everything!" begged Dorothy, fairly dancing about them in her eagerness.

"Melvin--Melvin did it!" said Jim. "We might all be at the bottom of the sea----"

"Hush!" almost screamed Aurora, beginning to tremble. "It was so horrible--I----"

With more of sympathy than had been between them before, Dolly slipped her arm around Aurora's shoulders and playfully ordered:

"If you boys don't tell how you came on our promenade deck, when you belonged on the tender, you sha'n't have any breakfast!"

"Melvin. I tell you it was Melvin. He's the only one of us didn't sleep like a log. He felt the hurricane coming, right through his dreams, and waked the lot of us, as soon as the first clap came. So he rushed us over the plank to take off the awnings----"

"With such a wind sucking under them might have made the boat turn turtle, Mrs. Calvert, don't you know? At sea--that's why I presumed to give orders without----"

"Oh, my dear lad, I now 'order' you to 'give orders' whenever you think best. We can trust you, and do thank you. But how dark it seems now the lightning has stopped. Isn't there any sort of light we can get?" said Aunt Betty, sitting down with Elsa and folding a steamer rug around them both.

Cap'n Jack came stumping back from the rear of the boat in a high state of excitement and actual glee.

"Clean gone! Plank a-swingin' loose--caught it a-board just in time--t'other boat flip-floppin' around like she was all-possessed.

Reckon she is. The idee! A reg'lar steam engine on a craft not much bigger 'n itself! What this house-boat needs isn't steam engines but a set of stout sails an' a few fust-cla.s.s poles. Come, lads, let's anchor her--if the fool that built her didn't put them on the tender, too, alongside his other silly contraptions."

Mrs. Calvert wondered if the old fellow knew what he was talking about, but found the resolute tones of his voice a comfort. Whoever else was frightened he was not and she liked him better at that moment than she would have thought possible. All his whining discontent was gone and he was honestly happy. What the others felt to be a terrible misfortune was his opportunity to prove himself the fine "skipper" he had boasted of being.

But now that the roar of the storm had subsided, there came across the little s.p.a.ce of water between the Lily and its Pad the outcries of Ephraim and Methuselah, mingled with halloes of the engineer, John Stinson.

"They want to come alongside! They're signallin'!" cried Cap'n Jack, promptly putting his hands before his mouth, trumpet-fashion, and returning such a l.u.s.ty answer that those near him clapped hands over ears.

Then came Melvin, more sea-wise than the other lads, saying:

"I've been fumbling around and there are some poles lashed outside the rail. Let's unsheath 'em, but it'll take us all to keep them from tumbling over."

"That's so! You're right! When Pop had this boat built he was told to provide for all sorts of things. The engine going broke was the last notion he had, but he had the poles made to please Mommer. I know--I mean--I guess I do--how they use 'em, but they're mighty heavy."

It was Captain Hurry who again came to the front. In a twinkling he had inspected the stout poles and explained, that by putting one end of each down through the water till it reached the bottom, the house-boat could not only be held steady but could be propelled.

"It's slow but it's safe an' easy, Ma'am," he informed Mrs. Calvert.

"Then it's the very thing, the only thing, we want," she answered, promptly. "I never did believe in that engine in the hands of an amateur."

Jim didn't fancy this reflection on his skill, believing that he already knew as much about machinery as an expert did and that he had mastered all that John Stinson could teach him. However, he was beyond reach of the beloved little engine now and the first thing to do was to bring the two boats together again.

Under Cap'n Jack's direction this was promptly done; and great was old Ephraim's rejoicing when, at last, the familiar gang-plank was once more in place and he had crossed over it to his beloved mistress's presence.

"T'ank de Lord, Miss Betty, you didn't get sca'ed to death! I sutney beliebed we was all gwine to de bottom of de ribbah! An' I was plumb scan'lized ter t'ink o' yo' po' li'l white body all kivvered wid mud, stidder lyin' in a nice, clean tomb lak yo' oughter. I----"

"That'll do, Ephraim. I'll take all the rest you were going to say for granted. Here, Metty, sit down in that corner and keep still. You're safe now and--are you hungry?"

The morning light was rapidly increasing and seen by it the little black face looked piteous indeed. But there were few troubles of Methuselah's which "eatings" couldn't cure; so his mistress promptly dispatched Dorothy to her stateroom for a big box of candy, brought along "in case of need." Never would need be more urgent than now, and not only did the little page's countenance brighten, when the box appeared, but everybody else dipped into it as eagerly--it seemed such a relief to do such an ordinary thing once more.

The sun rose and shone as if to make them forget the night of storm; and after a breakfast, hastily prepared on the little oil stove in the tender, a feeling of great content spread through the little company.

Engineer Stinson had missed his train, but was now glad of it; for he had gained time to examine the engine, though disappointed at the report he had to make.

"Useless, for the present, Madam, I regret to say. Owing to the sudden jar against the end of the wharf, or the wind's dashing the tender about, some parts are broken. To get it repaired will take some time.

Shall I send down a tug to tow you back to the city? And have a man from the shop attend to it? My own job will keep me from doing it myself, though I'd like to."

"Thank you," said Aunt Betty, and, for a moment, said nothing more.

But she looked from one to another of the eager young faces about her and read but one desire on all. This was so evident that she smiled as she asked:

"Who thinks best to give up this trip? Or, rather, to go back and start over again--if we dare?"

n.o.body spoke but a sort of groan ran around the little company.

"All in favor of going on, with some other sort of 'power,' or of anchoring the Water Lily at some pleasant point near sh.o.r.e and staying there, say 'Aye'."

So l.u.s.ty a chorus of "Ayes" answered that Aunt Betty playfully covered her ears, till the clamor had subsided. Then a council of ways and means was held, in which everyone took part, and out of which the decision came:

That Cap'n Jack should rig up the sails which was another one of Mr.

Blank's provisions against just such a dilemma, and instruct the three lads how to use them; that when they didn't want to sail they should use the poles; or using neither, should remain quietly at rest in the most delightful spot they could find; that the Lily and its Pad should be fastened together in the strongest way, so that no more separation by wind or storm could be possible.

"The tender adds a great weight to your 'power' in such a case,"

suggested Mr. Stinson. "Without it you could move much faster."

"And without it, where could Ephy sleep and Chloe cook? The boys, too, will need their warm bunks if it happens to be cold," said Dolly.

"Besides--the kitchen is out there. Oh! we can't possibly spare the tender."