The Adventure Club Afloat

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER XX

  THE DERELICT

  It was a rock whose brown head was thrust barely two feet above thewater.

  "It's the ledge we grazed last night," cried Joe. "Could we get a ropeto that, Steve?"

  "Why not? We'll have a go at it, anyway. Help me with the tender,someone!"

  It was difficult work. As a first step the bow line was replaced by asmaller rope and taken through the breakers to the out-cropping ledge.There, working precariously in the water while Joe held him from theboat and Han did his best to keep the dingey steady, Steve eventuallygot the big cable around the rock, protecting it from the rough edges bya blanket from one of the berths. Fortunately, the rock was so formedthat, once drawn tight, there was no danger of the rope slipping off,and they returned to the _Adventurer_, Steve towing behind, in triumph.In the meanwhile the others, directed by Phil, were stuffing the worstof the seams with strips of muslin, using table knives for caulkingirons. The cable to the rock was led through a ring at the stern andcarried forward to the windlass. By the time the tide had begun to riseagain they had got the hull free of water, taking turns at the hand-pumpand operating the bilge-pump at the same time. Then they waited to seehow well they had succeeded at their caulking. It was noon by that time,and they ate cold rations in the galley, and while they were below atransient gleam of sunlight shone for an instant through the hatch aboveand they tumbled to deck. The fine rain had almost ceased and althoughthe sunlight was gone again, the clouds were breaking. Steve whooped forjoy and the others joined him. It might have been only in imagination,but it seemed that the wind was less fierce and that the in-rollingbreakers were less formidable.

  There was little to do save to set the cruiser as much to rights insideand out as was possible and wait for high tide again. As the water oncemore surrounded the boat they were pleased and encouraged to find thatwhile the water was again coming in through the seams it filled thebilge so slowly that the pump could easily take care of it. Perrydeclared proudly that they had done a "caulking job!" They went ashorebefore the water cut them off entirely and built the fire up again.About four the wind died down appreciably and the sun, which had beenflirting with the world ever since noon, burst forth in a sudden blazeof glory. The mist disappeared as if by magic and exclamations ofsurprise burst from six throats as eager eyes looked shoreward.

  There, as it seemed scarcely a half-mile distant, was the mainland;green fields, grey cliffs, white houses! In reality the distance waswell over a mile and a quarter, but so clear had the atmosphere suddenlybecome that the space of tumbled green water intervening looked hardlymore than a swimmer's stunt! They cheered and would have waved theircaps had they had any to wave. A small steamer was ducking her way alongnear shore and they could almost see the spray tossing from the bow.They found a nearer way to the top of the cliff and climbed to thesummit and tried to decide just where they were, but even Steve was at aloss, although he was fairly certain that Englishman's Bay was well tothe north, probably as far distant as six miles. But, since from wherethey gazed islands and mainland melted into each other, even Wass Islandwas not determinate. But after all it didn't much matter where theywere. In a calm sea they could reach the shore in the dingey if itbecame necessary, while a distress signal would undoubtedly be soon seenfrom the nearer head-land. But Steve was not ready to call for aid yet,and together they made their way back to the beach and settled downphilosophically to await evening and high tide.

  With the prospect of release from their desert island to cheer them,waiting was not so hard. They had some supper about six and after thatthe time passed fairly quickly. At half-past eight they made their wayout to the _Adventurer_. The wind had died entirely down at sunset andnow the sea was probably as quiet and well-behaved as it ever was justthere. About nine they began operations. No one was too sanguine of theresults, but when, having started the engine and experimentally movedthe clutch into reverse to clear the sand from around the propeller, nountoward incident happened they became more encouraged. The heavinglever was put into the windlass and, with Phil astern to watch the cablewhere it ran through the ring bolt, Steve operated the engine while theothers took turns, two and two, at the windlass. Gradually the manilacable tightened and strained and the screw churned hard, but the_Adventurer_, save for righting herself a trifle, gave no indication ofmoving from her sandy bed. Steve summoned the boys who were not workingthe windlass to the after part of the boat in order to lighten the bowas much as possible, and they worked on. Just when it seemed that notanother inch of the cable was to be conquered there was a shout fromOssie and Han, who were panting at the lever, and the _Adventurer_moved!

  After that it was only a matter of time. Inch by inch the cruiserdragged her keel along the sand, each minute floating a little freer andeach minute putting her deck more level as the stern found the deepwater. And, perhaps a half-hour from the time they had started, they hadthe boat riding clear and slowly going astern to take up the cable. Itwas out of the question to get the rope free of the rock and so they hadto cut it, and, having done so, they swung cautiously around in a widecircle and headed toward the cheerful white beam of a lighthouse thatbeckoned from the shore.

  They had to keep the pump going, for a leak they had not suspecteddeveloped forward, but that was a small matter and they were so glad toget out of the adventure with nothing worse than a few sprung planks,some bent stanchions and the loss of the side curtains that they wouldwillingly have pumped by hand. Half an hour later, after a slow andcareful passage from island to mainland, with the searchlight pickingout her path, the _Adventurer_ dropped anchor in a narrow harbour.

  They stayed there only overnight, for in the morning they found thatthere was no prospect of getting repairs made there, and so, with thebilge pump sucking merrily, they ran ten miles further down the coastand before dinner time saw the _Adventurer_ on a cradle and hauled highand dry from the water. The damage to the hull, while nowhere severe,was more general than they had thought, and the man who was to do therepairs decreed a week's stay. After discussing the situation it wasdecided that all save Steve and Phil were to proceed to Camden by railand wait there for the _Adventurer_. Steve was to remain to superintendthe repairs and painting--the cruiser stood in need of paint bythen--and Phil volunteered to keep him company and help take the boat onwhen it was ready.

  In the meanwhile, after a day of uncertainty, the _Follow Me_ waslocated by telegraph at Jonesport. "All well. Sailing for Camdentomorrow. Meet you there" was the reply from Harry Corwin. Steve andPhil, watching seaward from the deck of the _Adventurer_, sitting highup on a marine railway, thought that they made out the _Follow Me_ aboutten o'clock the next morning, but couldn't be sure. The two boys,captain and first mate, lived aboard and took their meals wherever theycould get them. They were there just six days and had a very happy ifunexciting time. Several absurd epistles reached them from Camden, allof which indicated that the other members of the Adventure Club wereenjoying themselves hugely. At last, shining with new paint and polishedbrass and refurnished with new curtains, the _Adventurer_ slid down therailway again, floated out from the cradle and pointed her nose towardPenobscot Bay. In the middle of a bright Friday afternoon she droppedanchor alongside her companion craft, Phil doing wild and ecstaticthings with the whistle and eliciting no response from the _Follow Me_.Steve and Phil donned proper shore-going togs and tumbled into thedingey. The _Follow Me_ was totally deserted, which accounted for thefact that, while their noisy arrival had aroused not a little intereston other craft, the _Follow Me_ had received them very coldly. Theyfound some of the party at the hotel and the others rounded up later.Everyone was flatteringly glad to see the new arrivals again, but nonemore so than Perry. Perry was absolutely pathetic in his greetings andrefused to let Steve out of his sight for an instant.

  "I'm quite taken by surprise," declared Steve. "I knew you loved medevotedly, Perry, but this is--this is really touching!"

  Perry grew a trifle red and coughed. "Er--well--I hope so,"
he blurted.

  "You hope so? Hope what?"

  "Hope it's touching," explained the other, grinning. "You see, I'm flatbroke, Steve, and so is everyone else, or pretty near, and if you couldlend me a couple of dollars--"

  "I feared it wasn't all just affection," sighed Steve, reaching for hispurse. "But it was worth the price, Perry!"

  "Much obliged! You--you might make it three, if you don't mind. I oweHan fifty cents and Ossie a quarter--no, thirty-five--"

  "Here's five, you spendthrift. Let me have it back as soon as you can,though, for I'm down near the bottom myself."

  "I will, Steve. I've sent for some and it ought to be along in a day ortwo. Money doesn't last any time here!"

  Friends and acquaintances made during their former visit had doneeverything possible to make the boys' stay so very more than pleasant,and when the matter of going on was introduced the suggestion met withscant sympathy. However, Steve was not at all averse to a week or so oflotus eating and, having satisfied his conscience by the proposal, hesettled down, to enjoy himself with the rest. His friends ashore werelavish with hospitality, while "Globbins the Speed Fiend," as Perry haddubbed the freckle-faced proprietor of the restless automobile, wasindefatigably attentive. A second letter from Neil, forwarded from oneport of call to another in their wake, reached them one day, and theycomposed a reply between them and all hands signed it. Neil was havingrather a dull time of it, they gathered, and they hoped their letterwould cheer him up a bit.

  At last, when they had, after two postponements, fixed a day ofdeparture, a storm that tied up shipping all along the North AtlanticCoast for four days caused a final delay, and consequently it was welltoward the last of August when they said good-bye and set forth forSquirrel Island. No one particularly cared to visit Squirrel Island saveHan, who had friends there, but as there was still a full week at theirdisposal they were in no great hurry and one port was as good asanother. They remained there a day and then made Portland. At Portlandsupplies were put in, and one Wednesday morning they picked up theanchor at a little after six o'clock and started for Provincetown withthe fine determination to cover the distance of approximately a hundredand twenty-five miles before they sat down to supper. That they didn'tdo so was no fault of either the _Adventurer_ or the _Follow Me_.

  It was about half-past eight that Phil, sitting on the forward cabinroof with his back braced against the smokestack, called Steve'sattention to an object far off to port. They had then put some thirtymiles between them and Portland and were twenty miles off Cape Neddick.The morning was lowery, with occasional spatters of rain, and the storm,which had blown off to the northward the day before, had left a heavysea running. For an hour the _Adventurer_ and the _Follow Me_ had beenclimbing up the slopes of grey-green swells and sliding down intoswirling troughs, and for a minute Steve couldn't find the dark speck atwhich Phil was pointing. When he did at last sight it over the tumbledmounds of water he stared in puzzlement a moment before he took thebinoculars from their place and fitted them to his eyes. He looked longand then silently handed the glasses through the window to Phil, punchedtwo shrill blasts on the whistle and swung the wheel to port.

  "Looks like a wreck," said Phil, after an inspection of the distantobject. "Going to see?"

  Steve nodded. "Might be someone aboard," he answered. "We can tell inanother mile or so, I guess."

  Phil gave up the glasses to the others, who had clustered to the bridge,while the _Follow Me_ altered her course in obedience to the signal, hercompany probably wondering why Steve had suddenly chosen to stand out tosea. At the end of ten minutes it was plainly to be determined with theaid of the binoculars that the object which had attracted theirattention and curiosity was without any doubt a wreck, and as the_Adventurer_ drew momentarily closer her plight was seen to be extreme.Whether anyone remained aboard was still a question when the cruiser wasa mile distant, but everything pointed against it. The craft, whichproved to be a small coasting schooner, had evidently seen a lot oftrouble. Both masts were broken off, the foremast close to the deck andthe mainmast some dozen feet above it. She lay low in the water, withher decks piled high with lumber. A tangle of spars and ropes hungastern, but save for her cargo the decks had been swept clean. She was asad sight even at that distance, and more than one aboard the_Adventurer_ felt the pathos of her.

  "No sign of life," said Steve. "If anyone was aboard there'd be a signalflying. And the boats are all gone, too, although that wouldn't meanmuch in itself because they might have been swept away. I guess, though,it got a bit too strenuous and the crew remembered the 'Safety First'slogan. There's nothing we can do, anyway."

  He started to swing the cruiser about again, but Perry intervened."She's a whatyoucallit!" he exclaimed excitedly. "She's--"

  "No, little one," Joe corrected gently, "she's a wreck."

  "She's a derelict," persisted Perry eagerly, "and no one belongs to her!If we got her she'd belong to us, Steve! Wouldn't she?"

  "I suppose she would," replied Steve dubiously, his hand hesitating onthe wheel, "but finding her and getting her are two mighty differentthings, Perry. If we _could_ get her she'd be a nice prize, I guess, forlumber's worth real money these days, and although she isn't very bigit's safe to say she's got quite a bunch of it on her, below deck andabove. I guess that lumber is what kept her afloat, from the looks ofthe hull."

  "Let's see what we can do," said Han. "Someone will find her and--"

  "It might as well be us," added Perry enthusiastically. "Couldn't we towher, Steve!"

  "Tow her! Gee, she'd follow about as easily as a brick house!"

  "But if we both pulled--"

  "Well"--Steve cast an appraising eye at the weather--"I'm game to try itif the rest of you say so. Full steam ahead, Mr. Chapman!"