The Rover Boys on Land and Sea Part 32

Not wishing to remain out in the storm, the three girls came into the house.--"Dora was very much disturbed, and Nellie and Grace were also anxious.

"It is queer that d.i.c.k and old Jerry remained behind," whispered Dora to her cousins. "They were so anxious to protect us before."

"I cannot understand it, Dora," returned Nellie.

"There has been foul play somewhere," came from Grace.

"Oh, do you think--" Dora could not finish.

"See here!" burst in the voice of Jack Lesher. "We want some dinner.

Don't be all day getting it for us."

The liquor he had imbibed was beginning to tell upon him.. He looked ugly, and the girls trembled before him.

"Dinner will be ready in a quarter of an hour," said Grace, who had been doing the cooking.

"All right." Lesher turned to the bully: "Baxter, join me in a gla.s.s of rum for luck."

"Thanks, I will," answered Dan Baxter, who did not particularly want the liquor, but did not dream of offending the mate.

Lesher produced a bottle he had brought away from the wreck, prepared two gla.s.ses of rum, and drank with great relish. Then he threw himself into a chair at the rude dining-table.

"I am the master here, and I want everybody to know it!" he exclaimed, banging his fist savagely.

"There is dinner," said Grace, and brought it in. "You can help yourself." And she went into the next room to join Nellie and Dora.

"Aint going to wait on us, eh?" grumbled Lesher, with a hiccough.

"All right, my fine ladies. But I am master, don't you forget that!"

He began to eat leisurely, while Dan Baxter began to bolt his food.

In the meantime the sky grew darker and the flashes of lightning more vivid. The girls were greatly frightened, and huddled together, while tears stood on Grace's cheeks.

"Oh, if only somebody was with us," sighed Nellie.

By the time Lesher and Baxter had finished eating the storm was on them in all of its violence. The wind shrieked and tore through the jungle behind them, and often they could hear some tall tree go down with a crash.

"This will tear our flag of distress to shreds," said Nellie. "And just when we need it so much, too!"

"I am thinking of the future as well as the present," said Dora.

"What a rough time there will be if Lesher brings those other sailors here. Some of them were heavy drinkers like himself, and only two or three were Americans."

The storm had whipped the waters of the bay into a fury, and the rain was so thick that to see even the island on which the wreck rested was impossible.

"d.i.c.k can't come now," said Dora. "A boat on the bay would surely go down."

Having finished the meal, Lesher and Baxter sat down in the living room to smoke and to talk over the situation. The mate continued to drink, and half an hour later he fell asleep, sitting on the bench, and with his head on the table.

"The beast!" said Dora, as she peeped out at him. "Well, there is one satisfaction," she continued: "he cannot harm us while he is asleep."

"You girls better have your own dinner," called out Baxter. "I aint going to eat you up."

"We will get our dinner when we please," said Nellie, as she came out. "We are not afraid of you, Dan Baxter."

No more was said for a long time. The girls ate what little they wished and washed up the dishes. The rain still continued to fall in torrents, but the thunder and' lightning drifted away to the eastward.

Dora was the most anxious of the trio, and at every opportunity she tried to look through the driving rain toward the wreck.

"I'd give almost anything to know if d.i.c.k is safe," she murmured.

"Don't be discouraged, Dora," said Grace. "Perhaps he will return as soon as the storm is over."

The girls were huddled close to a window, looking out into the rain, when Dan Baxter threw aside the pipe he had been smoking and approached them.

"See here, girls," he said, "why can't we be friends? What is the use of being enemies in such a place as this?"

"Dan Baxter, we want you to keep your distance," said Nellie coldly.

"And if you do not, it will be the worse for you when the others come back," put in Grace.

"Humph! I reckon you think it is fine to ride such a high horse,"

sneered the bully. "What are you going to do when we bring the rest of the sailors over here? We'll be eleven to seven then."

"Never mind what we'll do," said Dora. "I would rather have the company of some of those sailors than your company."

"That is where you make a mistake. The sailors are all rough fellows, some of them worse than Jack Lesher. Now, if you are willing to count me as a friend, I'll stand by you when the crowd comes over."

"We don't want your friendship, Dan Baxter, so there!" cried Nellie.

"We know your past, and we know that you cannot be trusted."

"Don't think I am as good as the Rovers, eh?"

"We all know that you are not," answered Grace.

"What have you done to d.i.c.k Rover?" questioned Dora. "He ought to be here long before this."

"Oh, I guess the storm is holding him back," said Baxter, shifting uneasily as she gazed earnestly into his eyes.

"If anything has happened to d.i.c.k, I shall hold you responsible,"

said Dora.

At that moment the fury of the storm cut off further talking. A sudden rush of wind had come up, whistling through the jungle and bringing down a palm close to the house with a crash. The fall of the tree made Baxter jump in alarm.

"The house is coming down!" he cried, and ran outside.

The wind made the waves in the bay rise higher and higher until they lashed furiously in all directions. Then came another downpour of rain, which caused the bully to seek shelter again.

"Hark!" said Nellie suddenly, and raised her hand for silence.

"What did you hear?" asked Grace.