CHAPTER VIII
THE MEN IN THE BOAT
"Oh! Oh!" screamed Grace. "We'll be drowned!"
"Nonsense! Keep quiet!" commanded Will, with the authority only abrother could have displayed on such an occasion. His stern voice hadthe desired effect and Grace ceased clinging to her chums with a gripthat really endangered them.
"Oh, I'm so sorry I was silly!" she exclaimed contritely, as the bigwave passed harmlessly under the sailboat. Then the craft swung behind aprojecting point of land and they were in calmer waters. Allen had letthe sail come down on the run, and all danger of capsizing was over. Thewind still blew in fitful gusts, however, and the rain, which had beenholding off, came down in a drenching shower.
"Get out the mackintoshes!" cried Roy, for those garments had beenbrought with them at the suggestion of Old Tin-Back.
Protected now against the downpour, and in calmer waters, the youngpeople were themselves once more. The jib gave way enough to the craftfor Allen to head it toward a little dock which seemed to be the landingplace of the neighborhood fishermen.
"What are you going to do?" asked Will. "Stay here until the storm isover?"
"Might as well," Allen answered. "And yet--hello! What's that?" heinterrupted himself suddenly, pointing out to the bay.
"A motor boat broken loose from its mooring," answered Roy.
"And if it isn't the _Pocohontas_ I miss my guess!" added Amy's brother.
"That's right!" declared Allen. "John's repair shop is in this cove. Hemust have anchored her out, and the storm tore her loose. He evidentlydoesn't know it."
"Well, we know it!" cried Will, "and she'll be on those rocks in a fewminutes more. See! She's drifting right toward them!"
It needed but a glance to disclose this. The drifting motor boat, underthe influence of wind and waves, was heading straight toward somehalf-submerged but sharp rocks that were a danger-point in the littlecove.
"What's to be done?" demanded Roy.
"You must save your boat, that's certain!" put in Betty, thussustaining her reputation as a Little Captain.
"We've got to," said Will. "But to take you girls out there again----"
"Don't you dare do it, in this storm!" broke in Grace, for the wind andrain had now reached their height.
"Can't you land us?" asked Betty, taking in the situation at a glance."That will be best. Put us on shore and then this boat will be so mucheasier to handle. The wind is right, and you can get the _Pocohontas_before she goes on the rocks."
"She's got the idea," declared Allen, admiringly. "We can save our boat,if we hustle."
"Then--'hustle'!" cried Betty, with a little blush, as she shook herhead to rid her flashing eyes of raindrops. "Put us ashore at the dock,and save the _Pocohontas_."
"But what will you do?" asked Allen. "I don't like to leave you on thebeach alone."
"We four girls won't be lonesome," declared Mollie. "It isn't the firsttime we've roughed it. Besides, there is some sort of a fisherman'sshanty there. We'll go inside, if the storm gets too bad. But I think itis going to clear."
Indeed there were indications that the weather at least was going to getno worse. There was a hasty conference among the boys, who cast anxiouseyes toward their drifting boat. Then the sailing craft was worked up tothe little dock, and the girls sprang out.
"We'll come back for you," promised Will.
"If you can't it will be all right," Betty assured him. "We can walkback along the beach after the storm. It isn't more than a mile or two,and we haven't done very much walking lately."
"Well, we'll see what happens," spoke Allen, anxious to get out to the_Pocohontas_, which was dangerously near the rocks.
The girls paused on the dock a moment, to watch the boys beating backout over the bay, and then turned to go up the beach. They had neverbeen on this part of the coast before. It was lonesome and deserted,save for one rather shabby hut just above high-water mark. Over beyondsome distant sand dunes, the boys had been told, was the establishmentof the boat-builder, where they had taken their craft to have a newmagneto put in.
"Shall we go in and ask for shelter?" asked Amy, as they neared the hut.
"Well, it's raining pretty hard," returned Grace.
"Oh, don't let's go in!" said Betty, suddenly, as she looked at awindow of the hut. "It's much nicer outside."
"But it's raining so!" protested Mollie, with a quick look at her chum.
"I know. But we're neither sugar nor salt, and this isn't the first rainwe've been out in. Besides, I'm sure, in there, it will smell of--fish!I can't bear to be shut up in a stuffy cabin that smells of fish. I votewe stay out. See, it is beginning to clear already," and she pointed toa streak of light in the west.
"Is that your real reason--a dislike of the smell of--fish?" askedMollie, in a low voice, that Betty alone could hear.
"Not exactly, no," was the reply, equally guarded. "I happened to catcha glimpse of some faces at the window of that hut, and I did not likethe look of them--they were--ugh! I don't know what to say," and Bettygave a slight shiver that was not caused entirely by the chilling rain.
"I saw them, too," spoke Mollie, in louder tones now, for Grace and Amyhad walked on ahead. "And one of them was--a woman's face."
"Yes, but such a face!" agreed Betty. "It was hard--cruel--oh, I'llnever go in that hut."
"Nor will I. The rain is stopping, I think."
"Then let's walk back to Ocean View," proposed Betty. "What do you say,girls?" she called to Amy and Grace. "Shall we walk back? It's stopping,and the sand will be firm and hard after the rain."
"I don't mind," spoke Amy, always willing to be accommodating.
"Oh, well, I suppose we'll have to, if the boys don't come for us,"assented Grace.
"They won't be back for some time," declared Betty. "See, they have justreached the boat, and in time, too, I think. A little later she wouldhave been on the rocks."
Allen and his chums had indeed been fortunate in saving the_Pocohontas_. Through the clearing air the girls watched them preparingto tow the motor craft back.
"It will be some time before they can come for us," repeated Betty. "Wemight as well go on."
"But they won't know where we are," objected Grace, who did notaltogether relish the idea of walking. She was wearing shoes with veryhigh heels.
"They'll understand," responded Betty. "See, they are looking this way.I'll give them some sign language they'll understand," and she beganwaving her arms, and pointing in the direction of Ocean View, down thecoast.
"Who in the world will understand that?" demanded Mollie.
"Allen will," answered Betty.
"Oh!" exclaimed Mollie with a laugh. "Then this isn't the first time youhave talked with him in sign language."
"Silly!" protested Betty. "Come on, girls," and she strode off down thewet sands. The rain had almost stopped.
"This is better than waiting back in that hut," observed Mollie, walkingbeside the Little Captain.
"I should say so!" exclaimed Betty. "Oh, those horrid faces."
"Just like smugglers!" declared Mollie.
"What's that about smugglers?" demanded Grace, quickly, turning around.She was in advance with Amy.
"Oh--nothing," spoke Betty, and Grace resumed her talk with her otherchum.
The girls walked along the beach. Now a turn of the coast hid the boysfrom sight, and their work of towing back the drifting motor boat.
"Oh, it's farther than I thought!" sighed Grace, as the atmospherebecame clearer, and, some distance down the coast they could see thelittle village of Ocean View.
"Oh, it isn't far at all!" declared Betty. "We haven't done enoughwalking lately, that's the reason. We'll soon be there."
As the girls made a turn around some high sand dunes they heard thestaccato puffing of a motor boat.
"Can that be the boys?" asked Mollie, quickly.
"Of course not! They are away behind us," declared Betty, "and thatsound came from in front. See, there it is
--a motor boat," and shepointed to one just leaving the shore of a little cove.
Several men had evidently just leaped into the craft which, because ofthe shallow water, had to be shoved some distance out.
Then a strange thing happened. The men appeared to be surprised at thesight of the girls--an unexpected sight, it would appear--for some ofthem seemed anxious to put back, while others were urgent for keeping onout into the bay.
"That's queer!" commented Betty.
"What?" asked Amy.
"Those men seem anxious to come back; at least, some of them do, andothers don't," went on Betty. "Look, they seem to be quarreling amongthemselves!"
The Outdoor Girls at Ocean View; Or, The Box That Was Found in the Sand Page 8
