The Ocean Wireless Boys and the Lost Liner Part 32

"Then she is leaking fast?"

"Yes, they've got all the pumps going to keep the water from getting to the fires. That's the reason we've got no juice."

"Let's look up Castle Island," said Jack, partly to relieve the tenseness of their position as the wounded ship crawled strickenly southward and partly to keep Sam, who was making a plucky effort to fight back his fears, from thinking too much of their situation.

They soon found it-a small island shaped like a splash of gravy on a plate. It was marked with a red dot. Under this red dot, in italics, was written, "_Volcano. Probably extinct._"

"Well, any old port in a storm," remarked Jack, as he closed up the atlas.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX

JACK'S RADIO

Darkly violet under the light of the dawn-fading stars lay Castle Island. Cradled in the heaving seas it was watched by scores of anxious eyes on the _Tropic Queen_, now in her death struggle. The fire room crew was kept at work only by physical persuasion. The water was gaining fast now through the jagged wound in the craft's steel side.

In the soft radiance that precedes the first flush of a tropic dawn, the two young wireless men, their occupation gone, watched its notched skyline grow into more definite shape.

As the light grew stronger, they saw that it was a bigger island than they had supposed. Vast chasms rent the sides of rock-ribbed mountains, and the place looked desolate and barren to a degree. Suddenly, too, Jack became aware of something they had not at first noticed.

From the summit of the rocky apex that topped the island, a smudge of smoke was blurred against the clear sky.

"The volcano!" exclaimed the boys in one breath.

"But I thought it was extinct," said Sam, in a dismayed voice. The thought of being in the proximity of an active volcano was anything but pleasing to him.

"Extinct volcanoes smoke sometimes," said Jack. "I've read of several in Mexico that do."

On the bridge, gray-faced from their long vigil, the ship's officers cl.u.s.tered about Captain McDonald, watched with anxiety the growing outlines of the island.

"There are shoals of sand off to the southeast there," said the captain.

"I was here years ago when I was an apprentice on the old _Abner A.

Jennings_. If we can reach them the old ship will lie easy unless bad weather comes on."

The steamer crept slowly forward. She hardly seemed to move, in the minds of the impatient souls on board her. But at last the water began to show green under her bows, signifying that she was getting into shoal waters. On and on she crawled, till she was a scant quarter of a mile from the mantling cliffs.

It was then that Captain McDonald sent word below to let the stokers come on deck. It was none too soon. The men were working at pistol point with water up to their waists, when the word came to evacuate the stokehold. Even firearms could not have kept them in that water-filled black pit much longer.

The engines were left running and a short time later, like a tired child, the _Tropic Queen_ cradled herself in a bed of soft sand and her voyage was over. An impressive silence hung over the ship as she grounded, which was not broken till the sharp orders that preceded her abandonment were issued.

Then all was bustle. The two remaining boats were lowered and the men sent ash.o.r.e. At last all that were left on board were the officers and the two wireless boys. The men had carried ash.o.r.e provisions and canvas for tents, and a stream of water that the first arrivals reported near the landing place, showed them that there was no danger of their going thirsty.

It was just as Jack and Sam were preparing to get aboard the boat that a strange thing happened. The tall, slender form of a young woman appeared on deck. It was Miss Jarrold. An instant later De Garros joined her.

"Why, I thought you were on board the other boats!" exclaimed Captain McDonald, fairly startled out of his stoic calm.

"Like myself, Mr. De Garros elected to see this thing out," chimed in another voice, and there was Colonel Minturn.

"So we stayed below while the other pa.s.sengers were being taken off,"

said the young aviator, "knowing that if there was any real danger we would still be able to escape. A shipwreck was too exciting an experience to miss."

"Well, if you want to make two fools of yourselves, I can't stop you,"

said the captain, in slightly nettled tones. "But this young lady. What is she doing here?"

"Inasmuch as my uncle is a prisoner on this ship, it was my duty to stand by him," said the girl, firmly compressing her lips.

"But I specifically ordered that Mr. Jarrold be taken off in one of the boats," said the captain, in a bewildered tone.

"Then whoever you gave the orders to disregarded them," replied the girl calmly. Then quite in a matter-of-fact voice she added, "Are we going to camp on that island?"

"Till help comes, yes," replied the captain. "I will see that you have a tent and are made as comfortable as possible, but of course you can't expect luxuries."

An hour later they were all on sh.o.r.e. Captain McDonald made an address to the men, who were quiet and orderly, telling them that the discipline in the sh.o.r.e camp would be the same as on board the ship, and that later on a consultation would be held and the best means of getting a.s.sistance decided upon. They had two boats and it was likely that Mr. Metcalf, in one of them, might be sent to the mainland in quest of aid.

Castle Island was a dismal-looking spot, but the boys decided to make the best of a bad business and set out, after a mid-day meal of canned provisions, coffee and crackers, for a walk along the beach. They didn't find much of interest, however. In fact they could hardly keep their eyes off the _Tropic Queen_, lying on the shoals helpless with smokeless funnels, and listed heavily to port.

It was on the way back to camp that an odd thing happened. Sam was walking slightly in advance. Suddenly he turned around on Jack: "Say, what are you doing?" he demanded. "Don't shove me."

"I didn't shove you," said Jack. "I felt the same thing. I--Gracious, it's the earth shaking!"

"Look, look at the volcano!" cried Sam suddenly.

Jack looked up at the towering, gaunt crest miles away, rearing to an infinite height above them. An immense cloud of yellow, sulphurous smoke, muddying the blue of the sky, was pouring from it.

The earth shook again sickeningly. White-faced, the boys hastened back to camp. They found Captain McDonald and the other men trying to quiet the fears of the crew, who fully believed that before night the volcano would be in eruption, burying them, maybe, in lava. They succeeded fairly well, but the men kept their eyes turned to the smoking crest almost ceaselessly.

Miss Jarrold sat apart in front of her tent with her uncle, whose bonds had been taken off.

The day wore on and the tremors were repeated from time to time. But nothing serious occurred. In fact, the marooned party began to grow used to the shocks. It was arranged that early in the morning, Mr. Metcalf, with one of the boats and a picked crew, was to set out for the mainland and summon help.

During the afternoon, to fend off his melancholy thoughts, Jack decided to write down all that had happened since the eventful voyage of the lost liner started. He begged some paper from the purser, who gave him a stack of duplicate manifests. He sat himself down, pencil in hand, and was beginning to scribble, when he suddenly stopped short and sat staring at a sheet of paper that had fallen to the ground beside him.

His eyes were centered on an entry at the top of the page. There didn't appear to be much about the entry to cause Jack's pulses to throb with a wild hope and his heart to beat quicker, but they did. Here is what he read:

"To Don Jose de Ramon, Electric Supplies, Santa Marta. 10 storage batteries from Day, Martin & Co., New York."

Storage batteries!

Jack threw aside his writing and made for the purser.

"Where are those storage batteries for Santa Marta stored?" he asked.

"In hold Number One," was the reply. "They are on the top of the Santa Marta cargo."

"Can they be got at easily?" asked Jack.