The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea Part 30

"I don't know, Miss. Forget it."

"Do you thuppothe it hath anything to do with the 'Thilly Thue' going out in the night?"

Captain Billy gripped the sheet that he was wrapping about a cleat, his red face took on a deeper shade, his eyes grew menacing. But Tommy refused to see anything threatening in either att.i.tude or gaze. She chuckled gleefully.

"Oh, I can keep a thecret. I haven't told anything, have I?" laughed Tommy as she ran back to her companions, her eyes bright and sparkling. "I made him thit up and not.i.the thingth," she chuckled in Harriet's ear. "You watch him, and thee how mad he lookth when he cometh back here."

The expression on the face of the skipper bore out all that Tommy had said of him. Harriet rebuked her, and demanded to know what she had said, but Tommy laughed merrily and ran into the cabin.

The "Sue" was getting well out to sea now. The sh.o.r.e line was sinking gradually into the sea. The land had become a faint, purplish blur in the distance, a strong, salty breeze was blowing across the sloop and the Atlantic rollers were becoming longer. The "Sue" was beginning to roll heavily, rising and falling to the accompaniment of creaking boom, rattling mast rings and flapping jibs. Keeping on one's feet was becoming more and more difficult with the pa.s.sing of the moments.

"Oh, help!" moaned Margery, in an anguished voice.

"What ith the matter!" demanded Tommy, squinting quizzically at her companion, whose face was deathly pale.

"Oh, I'm so ill," moaned Buster. Then she toppled over into the c.o.c.kpit, where she lay moaning. Miss Elting and Hazel picked her up, carried her into the cabin and placed her on one of the cushioned locker seats. Margery promptly rolled off with the next lurch of the sloop. "I wish I were dead!" she moaned.

"Cheer up! The wortht ith yet to come," cooed Tommy.

"Do you think this is perfectly safe?" questioned Miss Elting, after having staggered outside. "The sea is very rough and we are a long way from sh.o.r.e."

"Not at all, Miss," replied the captain. "This is a very fine sea.

Why, this boat could go through a hurricane and never leak a drop. You see, we are taking no water aboard at all. Where will you find a boat as dry as this, I'd like to know?"

Thus rea.s.sured, the guardian felt better about their situation, though she began to feel dizzy and a few moments later was forced to join Margery in the cabin. Buster was still on the cabin floor, unable to keep on the locker seat. She was tossing from side to side with every roll of the sloop. Four other girls from the camp by this time had sought what comfort was to be had in the cabin. Outside, Jane, Harriet, Tommy, Hazel and the skipper were taking their full measure of the enjoyment of the hour. Harriet got out a basket of food, and, bracing herself against the combing, proceeded to eat. Her companions on deck joined her. Tommy carried a roast beef sandwich into the cabin.

"Have a nithe, fat thandwitch with me?" she asked.

Dismal groans greeted her invitation. Harriet called her back.

"You shouldn't have done that, Tommy," she rebuked. "It was most unkind of you. How would you like to be aggravated if you were seasick?"

"If I got theathick I'd detherve to be teathed. Oh, thee the gullth."

A flock of white gulls was circling over the "Sister Sue." Harriet flung overboard a handful of crumbs, whereat the birds swooped down, rode the swells and greedily picked up the crumbs. They started up and soon overtook the sloop. For an hour the girls fed them; then, the crumbs being exhausted, the gulls soared out to sea in search of other craft and food.

For some time the sailing party had been so fully engaged with their own affairs that they had given little thought to their surroundings.

They now began to look about them.

"The land has disappeared!" cried Harriet. "We are out of sight of land. Isn't this splendid? How far are we out from home, Captain?"

"Nearly forty miles," he answered, after consulting the log. "Want to go back?"

"Oh, no! Let's keep on going. How I wish we could keep on forever in this way."

"We will go on until we meet a ship that is due here."

"A ship! Oh, where?" cried the girls.

The captain pointed a gnarled finger at a faint smudge on the distant horizon.

"Yonder she is," he answered. "Shall we go out and meet her?"

"Yes, oh, yes!" shouted the Meadow-Brook Girls gleefully. He changed the course of the "Sister Sue" ever so little, and they went bowling along over the Atlantic rollers headed for the big liner that was approaching them at nearly thirty miles an hour.

CHAPTER XXI

AN ANXIOUS OUTLOOK

"Come out, girlth, and thee the thhip," shouted Tommy, poking her head into the cabin.

"Go away and don't bother me," groaned Margery. "Can't you see how sick I am?"

"Ithn't that too bad?" deplored Tommy, withdrawing her face with a most unsympathetic grin. All those on deck were watching the black smudge on the horizon, and as they gazed it grew into a great, dark cloud. Out of the cloud, after a time, they saw white foam flashing in the sunlight, caused by the displacement of the great ship as she forged through the summer seas.

"Shall we pa.s.s near her?" questioned Miss Elting.

"We're right on her course," replied the skipper. "We'll turn out soon, for she won't shift her position an inch unless she thinks we're going to run into her. Let your boat off a point to starboard, Miss Burrell."

"Aye, aye," answered Harriet promptly, shifting the wheel slightly, eyes fixed on the trembling compa.s.s card. The shift of position threw the wind directly abeam. It was now blowing squarely against the quarter, causing the sloop to heel down at a sharp angle. The boat fairly leaped forward, her lee rail almost buried in a smother of foam. The eyes of the girl at the wheel sparkled with pleasure. It was glorious. Harriet Burrell could not remember to have enjoyed a happier moment.

"They are watching us," announced the captain, who had been examining the oncoming ship through his gla.s.s. "They think we may be coming out to speak to them," he added with a chuckle.

"We don't thpeak thhipth in the daylight," answered Tommy, drawing a quick glance from the captain. Harriet gave her a warning look, then devoted her attention to steering the course, glancing at the oncoming ship every now and then.

"Swing out," directed Captain Billy. "She throws a heavy swell. We will cut across it at right angles pa.s.sing under her stern. I'll tell you when to swing in so we'll just make it. Now, can you see the people?"

"Yes, yes!" cried the girls.

The huge red and black funnels belching clouds of dense black smoke were now plainly visible, as were the towering upperworks of the ship, and the bridge high in the air.

"Swing in," commanded the "Sue's" skipper.

Harriet put the helm hard over. The sloop responded quickly. Now the spray dashed over the boat in a drenching shower, bringing shouts of glee from the Meadow-Brook Girls. The move in a few minutes brought them so close to the big ship that the girls could look into the fresh sea-blown faces of the pa.s.sengers who crowded the rails on that side of the liner. It seemed as if the sloop must crash into the side of the larger boat. Harriet glanced inquiringly at Captain Billy, who nodded encouragingly, from which she understood that there was no cause for alarm.

The girls were now waving their handkerchiefs and shouting to the amazed pa.s.sengers, who could not understand why a party in so frail a craft should be met with far out to sea, how far few of those on the ship knew. They did know that they were out of sight of land, which made the marvel all the greater.

"Point in closer," commanded Captain Billy.

Harriet swung in still more. The "Sister Sue" buried her nose in the foamy, eddying wake of the liner close under the counter, so close, in fact, that the girls could see the water boiling over the twin propellers and hear their beat. The next moment they had pa.s.sed her and were on the open, rolling sea again, with the big ship threshing her way toward New York, rapidly widening the gap between herself and the venturesome little craft. For the moment that they had been blanketed by the steamer their sails had flattened and they had lost headway, but now the wind picked them up, the sails bellied and the little sloop continued on her way.

"We must turn now," said the skipper, consulting the skies, which he swept with a comprehensive glance. He gave Harriet the return course.

"I fear we are going to lose the wind. It will pick up later, however.

No need to be anxious." He stepped inside the cabin and, leaning forward, consulted the barometer. Harriet noted that his face wore a look of anxiety for the moment. But it had entirely disappeared when he returned to the deck. Once more he swept the horizon.