The Motor Girls on the Coast Part 30

"But the girls want to land!" cried his sister.

"You can't now. The sh.o.r.e is too rocky. You'd pound her hull to pieces.

Keep on around the point. The storm won't break for half an hour yet."

Rather reluctantly Cora put the wheel over. Yet she recognized the truth of what Jack had said. It would be dangerous to go ash.o.r.e there. And to turn back was equally out of the question, since the wind was rising. It was at their backs, and to turn in the heavy sea now running might mean an upset. To face the waves, too, would be dangerous. The only chance lay in keeping on.

Jack's prophecy about the storm was not borne out. With a sudden burst of wind, that whipped the salty spray of the waves over those in both boats, and a sprinkle of rain that soon became a downpour, the tempest broke.

The girls screamed, and tried to get under some bits of canvas that Cora had brought along to cover the engine. But the wind was so strong, and the rain so penetrating that it was of little avail.

"Head her up into the waves!" cried Jack. "Take 'em bow on, Cora!"

"Of course!" she shouted back, and gripped the wheel with tense fingers.

A little later they were out on the heaving ocean. Fortunately the point cut off some of the wind, and, having the gale at their backs helped some. But the two motor craft, separated by some distance now, had no easy time of it.

"Oh--oh!" moaned Belle.

"Be quiet!" commanded her sister. "Look at Eline!"

Eline was calm--that is, comparatively so.

"But--but she can swim better than I."

"Swim! No one will have to swim!" said Cora, not turning around. "I wonder what's the matter with that man?" and she pointed to one in a dory, who seemed to be signalling for help.

Then there came a further burst of the storm, and the rain came down harder than ever.

CHAPTER XXI

THE WRECK

"There must certainly be something the matter with that man!" exclaimed Cora. She had fairly to shout to be heard above the noise of the wind and rain.

"Well, we daren't stop to see what it is," said Belle. "Oh, do go faster, Cora! Get in quiet water! I am getting seasick!"

"Don't you dare!" cried Bess. "Think of--lemons!"

"I'm going to see what is the matter," declared Cora. "He's waving to us!"

"What about the boys?" asked Eline.

"They don't seem to see him. Besides, they're past him now, and it would be risky to turn back. I can easily pa.s.s near him."

The man, who was in a power-driven dory, was waving and shouting now, but the wind carried his words away. He seemed to be in some difficulty.

"Why doesn't he row in out of the storm?" asked Bess.

"Perhaps he has lost his oars," suggested Eline.

"Maybe that is the trouble," remarked Cora. "Well, we'll soon see."

She changed the course of the _Pet_, though it was a bit risky for the seas were quartering now, and the spray came aboard in salty sheets. But the girls could not get much wetter.

Cora slowed down her engine by means of a throttle control that extended up near the wheel. She veered in toward the tossing dory.

"What is it?" she cried. "What's the matter?"

"Out of gasoline! Can you lend me a bit so I can run in? I came out to lift my lobster pots, but it's too rough."

"Gasoline? Yes, we have plenty," said Cora. "I'll give you some."

"Don't come too close!" warned the fisherman. "Can you put it in a can and toss it to me? That's the best way."

"I'll try," promised Cora, as she cut off all power. The _Pet_ was now drifting, rising and falling on the swells. Belle looked very pale, and Bess was holding her.

"Find something, and run some gasoline into it from the carbureter drip,"

directed Cora, as she clung to the wheel.

"What shall I find?" asked Bess.

"Would an empty olive bottle do?" asked Eline.

"The very thing!" cried Cora. "Has it a cork?"

"Yes, and one olive in it."

"Throw out the olive, and poke your handkerchief down in the bottle to dry it out before you put in the gasoline. Even a drop of the salt water the olives come in will make trouble in the gasoline. Hurry!"

"Look out!" cried the fisherman. "Fend off!"

"You'd better do it!" directed Cora. "We have no boat hook!"

"All right, I'll attend to it."

The two boats were drifting dangerously close together. The fisherman caught up an oar he carried for emergencies, and skillfully fended off the _Pet_, which was drifting down on him. In the meanwhile Bess, with the help of Eline, had dried out the olive bottle, and had filled it with gasoline.

"What shall I do with it?" she asked Cora.

"Throw it to the man."

"I never can throw it."

"Then give it to me," and, holding to the wheel with one hand, with the other Cora tossed over the bottle of gasoline. The lobsterman caught it, called his thanks and gave the _Pet_ a final shove that carried her past him.