The Rival Campers Part 26

"But don't you think we could get around the foot of the island before it got much worse?" asked Arthur. "There is only about a mile to run before we get under the lee of the islands in the other bay."

"Of course, if we can reach the eastern bay all right, we shall be in smooth water then," said George, "for the island will shut off the wind to a great extent, and there won't be much sea. Well, if you fellows are willing to take the chance, I am. I guess it won't get any worse than the night we ran to Bryant's Cove. The _Spray_ stood that all right."

Breakfast being finished, they double-reefed the mainsail of the little yacht, and did not set the jib, as they would be running with the wind about on their quarter and would not need it. Then they stood out of the harbour into the bay.

They were almost immediately in rough water, and the very first plunge of the yacht into the heavy sea sent the spray flying over them. Young Joe and Arthur went scurrying into the cabin for the oilskins, of which they had a good supply, and the boys prepared themselves for wet weather.

"We'll get it right along now," said George, "until we can clear that point about a mile ahead there. The _Spray_ does the best she can, but she does throw the water bad in a heavy sea. It isn't her fault. And there's one good thing about her; you can't tip her over. She will stand up till the mast and sail are blown out of her."

The boys now realized how deceptive wind and water viewed from a distance always are. Gusts of wind that were seen from sh.o.r.e to blacken the water and send the spray flying from the crests of waves, were found now to be of far greater violence than they had supposed. Viewed from the harbour, the waves had not seemed to be of unusual size, but, now that they threw the little yacht about like a toy, they a.s.sumed a more terrific aspect.

The wind increased, and the _Spray_ rolled dangerously in the seas.

"She won't stand this," said George, at length. "We have got to put the third reef in and do it quick."

They got the yacht into the wind for a moment, lowered the sail, and tied in a few reef-points; but the yacht would not hold in the wind, and they had to be content with a few knots tied at twice or three times the usual distance.

"We're blowing offsh.o.r.e at a great rate," exclaimed George, "but I can't help it. I can't hold her up any higher. She won't stand it."

"Then we cannot make the point," said Arthur.

"I am afraid not," returned George. "I don't like the prospect of getting out into that bay, either, but I'm afraid we are in for it. I had no idea there was any such a sea running, nor anything like this wind."

The prospect was, indeed, not encouraging. Across the wide stretch of bay for some eighteen miles the sea was one ma.s.s of whitecaps, a tumbling confusion of waves, which already broke aboard the yacht, covering the boys with spray and necessitating the use of bailing-dish and boat-sponge to keep the water from standing in the c.o.c.kpit.

"We've got to get that topping-lift up higher, Arthur," said George Warren, as the yacht rolled heavily, bringing the boom down dangerously near the waves.

His brother sprang to the halyards at the warning, but it was a moment too late. At that instant a wave, rolling higher than any they had yet encountered, raised the _Spray_ on its crest and hurled it forward, at the same time causing the little craft to yaw so that the boom was buried for a moment deep in the seas. That moment was enough. There was a sharp snap as the boom, splintered in two in the middle, emerged from the waves, a useless thing. The yacht nearly broached to, while the next oncoming wave broke fairly aboard, filling the c.o.c.kpit half-full of water.

They thought it was all over with them then, but they kept their heads and saved themselves. Henry Burns and Arthur Warren, at the risk of going overboard, managed to get the broken boom aboard, after they had let the halyards run, and lashed it astern, so that the yacht was utterly without sail. At the same time Tom and Bob, who knew little about handling a yacht, but were ready for any emergency, bailed furiously with pails to clear the boat of water.

Fortunately, the hatch had been shut, and the deluge of water had not gone into the cabin, or the boat must have foundered. As it was, she rolled heavily till they had bailed the c.o.c.kpit dry again.

"That does settle it, with a vengeance," said George Warren, when they had recovered a little from the shock. "We have got to run for it now, clear across this bay. I think we can do it all right, but you fellows will have to bail lively. That won't be the only sea we take aboard."

"Where do we run to?" asked Henry Burns.

"That's the worst of it," replied George Warren. "I'm not sure, by any means, whether we get blown out to the shoals, or whether we can head over to the eastward any, ever so slightly, and strike the Gull Island Thoroughfare. If we can land under the lee of Gull Island, we may be able to do something. The first thing, though, is to get there."

It was no easy thing to hold the yacht on its course, even with no sail to drive it up to windward. Every wave threatened to throw it broadside on, and it required now and again the united efforts of George and Arthur Warren to steady it. Then a wave would come aboard astern, rolling in and nearly filling the c.o.c.kpit. Several times it did this, and at each and every time it seemed as though the little yacht was going down. They bailed desperately then, every one of them falling to except George Warren.

To their credit, though, not one of them lost his courage. Their faces were drawn and set, but they had confidence that the little _Spray_ would somehow bring them through.

Toward the middle of the afternoon they had got the Thoroughfare well in sight, big Gull Island lying nearly dead ahead and the smaller Gull Islands lying away to the eastward.

"If we can manage to get a sc.r.a.p of sail on her just as we pa.s.s the end of Gull Island," said George Warren, "I think we can swing her in and not capsize. We've got to keep headway on, though, or one of these big rollers will get under us and tip us over. We shall have a few rods to run broadside on, for, as we are running now, and the best we can head, we cannot come nearer than that to the island."

"I'll give her a sc.r.a.p of sail that she can carry," exclaimed Arthur, and dived into the companionway, shutting the door quickly to keep the seas out. He returned in a moment, bringing a hand-saw. With this he severed clean the broken half of the boom, tying the ends of the rigging to the short stub that was left. This left the sail a huge, clumsy bag, that would evidently not hoist up but a foot or so on the mast, but might possibly be of some service in the emergency.

A torrent of rain now began to pour, falling so dense as almost to shut out the islands ahead. Their outlines became obscured, making the effort to run into the Thoroughfare a more difficult and dangerous one.

Moreover, the wind continued to increase.

"Now, fellows," said George Warren, as they came abreast of the end of Big Gull Island, "everybody up to windward and hold on hard. She's going to lay over when she gets these seas broadside. Hoist the sail, Arthur, just as we begin to head in."

Arthur sprang to the halyards, but they were tangled and did not pull true. Try as best he could, the sail would hoist but a little ways on the mast. It bagged out like a huge balloon, holding the wind and nearly capsizing them. Henry Burns, handling the main-sheet, let it run just in time to save them. Still the sail gave them headway, and, carefully managed, would answer to fetch them in.

Twice they had to head off fairly before the wind again, at the onrush of some enormous wave, but they got quickly on their course again, and, rolling frightfully, with the boys clinging far out to windward, the little yacht all at once felt the relief which the sheltering extremity of Gull Island afforded from the awful strain. Almost before they knew it, they were in smooth water once more, riding easily at the entrance to the Thoroughfare.

"Whew!" cried George Warren, as he dropped the tiller and shook his hands, which were numb and aching from the strain and the cold rain.

"That was a ride for life that I don't care to repeat again in a hurry.

Didn't the little _Spray_ do well, though, eh, Arthur? She had a good excuse to founder if she hadn't been staunch. If she was only a little larger she wouldn't have minded this at all."

"We did come flying across that bay and no mistake," said Tom. "I thought we were going to founder twice or three times, though."

"Looks as though we were stranded here for some days, that's the worst of it," said George Warren. "This storm has just begun, by the looks of it.

It's a lonesome hole, too, down in this reach. n.o.body ever comes here, except a few fishermen in the fall and spring. The Thoroughfare is all right, but it doesn't lead to any particular place in the course of vessels, so it isn't a regular thoroughfare really, like those over to the eastward more. Now and then a yacht goes through, just for the sail, but one has got to know the channel very well, for it isn't charted accurately,-at least, so Cap'n Sam says."

"Well," returned Arthur, "we are not making a race against time, so I don't see as it matters much whether we stay here or some other part of the bay. We'll just lie snug aboard here to-night, and then to-morrow we'll get out and explore. There are some fishermen's shanties around on the other side of some of those smaller islands, and we ought to be able to build up a fire in one of them and live there till the storm is over, so we won't have to stay in this little cabin all the time."

"I'll be glad enough to go down there for awhile now," said Henry Burns, "and get dry and warm. Come on, Bob, let's you and me start some coffee and biscuit going. You do the cooking, because you know how, and I'll look on. I'll get the dishes out, anyway."

There was scarcely room in the cabin of the _Spray_ for more than four of them to sit and eat, so they threw the mainsail over the stub of the boom and made a shelter out of it against the rain. There, just outside the cabin, Tom and Bob sat as they all ate supper, with the rain pouring down all around and spattering in under the edges of the canvas. It was uncomfortable and dreary at best, and they were all glad when time came to turn in, which they did by all crowding into the cabin, where they could at least keep dry, although stowed away like sardines.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Henry Burns, as he awoke next morning, feeling stiff and sore. "I feel as though I was creased and starched and ironed, and every time I move I take out a crease. It will take me half a day to straighten out again, I've got so many kinks in my neck and back."

They were all cramped and lame from the uncomfortable positions in which they had lain, for on fair nights they had been accustomed to make up two bunks just outside the cabin, in the c.o.c.kpit. It was still raining hard, but as soon as they had had breakfast they set out to seek for new quarters.

With the sc.r.a.p of a sail set, and with the use of the sweeps with which the yacht was provided, they worked their way about a quarter of a mile along into the Thoroughfare, till they got abreast of one of the smaller of the Gull Islands. The sh.o.r.es of this were very bold, the rocks going down sheer, without any outlying reefs or ledges, so that they were able to run the yacht close alongside, making her fast at bow and stern with ropes carried out on land.

"It seems good to stretch one's legs again," said Bob, as they all sprang out on to the rocks. They were indeed glad to be on land once more.

The island on which they now were was about three-quarters of a mile long and about half a mile wide, quite densely wooded with a growth of spruce and young birches. From a little elevation they could look out to sea toward the southward.

"The shanties are on the other side, if I remember rightly," said George Warren. "I was down here once in the fishing season. We may as well strike directly across to the south sh.o.r.e. That's where the fishermen build their weirs for the salmon that run in along the islands."

They tramped across through the woods in the pouring rain. It was a relief to get even the shelter that the trees afforded from the driving storm. Presently they came in sight of the fishermen's cabins, a cl.u.s.ter of four standing in a clearing at the edge of the woods, facing the sea.

One of the huts was somewhat larger than the other three, and toward this they directed their steps.

"I don't just like to break into other people's property," said George Warren, advancing toward the door, hatchet in hand, "but it only means forcing a staple, and we can replace that without any harm being done.

It's the only-hulloa! Why, somebody's been here before us. The door is ajar."

Somebody had, indeed, forced the door, and had not taken pains to refasten it. The staple, which had been drawn, lay on the ground by the door, just where it had been dropped. The boys threw open the door and stepped inside.

The one room, for a shanty of the kind, was fairly commodious. Along the two ends were ranged tiers of bunks, three at either end, making just enough for them.

"Looks as though they were built expressly for us," remarked Henry Burns.

The bunks were rough, clumsily made affairs, a few boards knocked together, with a thin layer of hay thrown in at the bottom of each; but with the blankets from the yacht they would be comfortable.