CHAPTER XIV.
WHEN THE COMFORT WAS HUNG UP.
Evidently Jimmy was not at all dismayed by his present setback. As hesaid, he sprang from stock that would never acknowledge defeat.
"Just wait, me laddybuck," he declared, as he shook his finger at thegrinning Nick; "the day is long yit, and by the powers, they be otherways of beating that record ye've hung up. I'll kape me eyes about me,to say if another jewfish wouldn't be afther stranding himself for me'special benefit. And who knows but what this toime it may be a threehundred pounder I'll be lugging into camp."
"Oh, that's all right, Jimmy," remarked the fat boy, apparently not verymuch worried over the possibility of losing his laurels; "but make sureof one thing before you claim the earth."
"And what moight that be?" demanded Jimmy, innocently.
"Why, don't shout till you see whether it's a fish--_or a log_!" andNick lay back on the soft cushions he had brought on deck for his owncomfort, to laugh uproariously at his remark.
Jimmy turned a bit red, but joined in the general hilarity; for he wasable to enjoy a joke, even at his own expense.
Some days before, while Jimmy was fishing very industriously, he hadgiven a yell, and was seen to be pulling at a tremendous rate atsomething to which his hook had evidently become attached.
Of course his rival had shown great interest in his actions, for itlooked as if the Irish lad must have hooked a monster of a fish. Butwhen finally Jimmy was able, alone and unaided, to bring the thing tothe surface, he discovered, much to his chagrin, that it was only asunken and waterlogged log. His own frantic labor had given it all thewonderful movements which he believed were the struggles of a capturedfish.
"But I say, Jack, darlint," went on the Irish boy, "before I makeanother thry, plase tell me this: Suppose now, ye should say me comin'back, and ridin' on a manatee that they do be havin' around here--wouldye call that a fish, becase it lives, so they tell me, under the watherall the toime?"
He glared triumphantly at Nick, whose mouth opened in sheer amazementupon hearing the audacious proposition.
"If he don't take the cake for trying to do the queerest things, now!"the fat boy exclaimed. "Why, it's just silly to think of him capturinga manatee, and harnessing it, like they say Father Neptune does thedolphins. And Jack, looky here, a manatee can't be a fish at all, anymore than an alligator is."
"Tell me why?" demanded Jimmy, pugnaciously. "Sure, it's amphibious itdo be, and lives under the water all the toime. I think I've got yethere, Nick, me bhoy."
"But listen," Nick continued, with conviction in his manner, "haven'tyou heard it called a sea cow; and can a cow be a fish, Jack?" withwhich he turned triumphantly toward the laughing umpire.
"Now, what's the matter with a cow-whale?" asked Jimmy; "and yet denythat a whale is a fish if ye dare?"
"Jack, settle that, won't you, before he goes and brings in every oldvarmint to be found in this region?" pleaded Nick.
But Jack was too wise. He did not want to shut out the possibility oftheir having the time of their lives, should the energetic and ambitiousJimmy attempt to carry his plans into effect.
"No, I'm not going to bother my head over things that may never happen,"he declared; and with that Jimmy paddled away in the little dinky,grinning broadly at the uneasy Nick.
"Nobody just knows what that fellow _will_ do next," muttered the fatboy, as he followed his retreating rival with his eyes.
Meanwhile Jack was taking a look around with his glasses.
"Somehow I don't altogether like this place after we've anchored," heremarked.
"And why?" inquired Herb.
"For one thing," Jack continued, "it's more exposed than would bepleasant, if one of those Northers we've been hearing so much aboutshould spring up in the night. And I've been watching those ibis andcranes flying over for some time now. They all head in one quarter, andfrom that I reckon there's a bird roost over yonder."
Herb pricked up his ears, for he had long since expressed a desire tolook in on a real roosting place, where all kinds of birds came togethereach night.
"I tell you, Jack," he remarked, eagerly, "let's change our anchorage,and head that way. It can't be more than a mile or so further in, d'yethink?"
"Not more than that," was the reply.
"But we don't want to get lost among these blooming islands!" saidGeorge.
"We could make some sort of mark as we go, to leave a trail, and itwould be easy to come out the same way," was Jack's sensible suggestion.
"But how about Jimmy; if he came back here, and found us gone, therewould be a howl, believe me?" Nick observed.
"It happens by good luck that he's headed in just the right direction,so I could pick him up on the way," Jack declared.
"And that would wind up his fishing for today, wouldn't it?" asked Nick.
"It surely would," was the reply of the _Tramp's_ skipper; whereupon thefat boy heaved an audible sigh of gratification.
"Then I vote in favor of doing what Jack says, and having a peep in atthe bird colony tonight, if we can," he remarked.
"We might as well, I suppose," Josh put in, being somewhat curioushimself with regard to what such a roost looked like.
"I say this," continued Jack, who thought his sudden desire to changetheir anchorage needed further explanation, "because I understand thatthese roosts, once so plentiful in Southern Florida, are hard to findnowadays; and we might not have another chance to see the sight."
"What happens to make 'em scarce?" asked Josh.
"Oh, well! the main thing has been that plume hunters have found themout, and murdered the birds by the thousands. It's worse when they huntout the nesting places of the herons, and kill the mother birds, just toget the aigrette, which, it happens, is always at its best about thetime the birds have young."
"Say, I've read a lot about that," mentioned George; "and they tell usthat it's the most dreadful thing to visit one of those nesting placesin the swamp after the plume hunters have been at their bloody work.Thousands of young birds are starving in the nests, and the sounds theyput up just haunt a fellow forever."
"None of that in mine," declared tender-hearted Nick, firmly.
"I guess we all say the same," Jack added; "but when our intention isonly to see what such a place looks like, nobody can blame us forgoing."
"I should hope not," said George. "But do we get up our mudhooks rightnow, Jack, and mosey out of this nook?"
"That's the programme, and here goes for my anchor. Whew! it's stuckfast in the mud, all right. Give me a lift, Josh, after you and Herbhave pulled yours up on deck," and inside of five minutes all of themhad washed the mud from the forked anchors, which were then placedconveniently on the forward deck, where they could be dropped overboardwith a push.
Then the boats moved off.
This time it was the steady going old _Comfort_ that took the lead--Jackbeing in no particular hurry and George, as usual, being compelled totamper with his eccentric motor, before he could get it to going right.
Of course Herb meant to fall back presently, and let the _Tramp_ takethe lead; but it was really so seldom that he had a chance to leave theothers in the lurch that he and Josh seemed to enjoy running away.
Jack, of course, was on the lookout for the first sign of his teammate.Jimmy was discovered rowing frantically around one end of the bigisland, as though, upon hearing the popping of exhausts, he had beenseized with a sudden fear lest he was in danger of being abandoned therein that terrible region, with not a foot of high land within many miles.
"Hi! howld on there, Jack darlint!" he called out, stopping to wave ahand toward the advancing _Tramp_.
When alongside he of course demanded to know what it all meant; and uponlearning that they were about to go a mile or so further in, Jimmy shookhis head in a discouraged manner, saying:
"Arrah! now, as if I couldn't say through a stone that has a hole in thesame. I do be belaving that it's all the fault of that same sly one,Nick. He's that f
earful of me accomplishin' me threat, and securin' awhopper of a fish, that he invents all sorts of rasons for being on thejump. But I'll get the better of him yet, say if I don't, Jack, mebhoy!"
He climbed aboard, still grumbling, as though unable to convince himselfthat this was not all some smart scheme, engineered by his rival, inorder to keep him from securing a prize catch.
Herb was still far ahead, and skirting some of the many islands. When hereached a certain point he had marked out for himself, he intended tolie to, and wait for the coming of Jack. George had started on at a fastgait, and doubtless was determined to head off the clumsy _Comfort_,which fact may have urged Herb to do his best and cut corners sharply.All of which led up to a sequel.
Jack suddenly missed the loud noise that usually accompanied theprogress of the broad-beamed boat. As he looked up he discovered thatGeorge was heading straight for the _Comfort_, which hung near the pointof an island; also that both Herb and Josh were jumping wildly about, asthough greatly excited.
"What do be the matter with the gossoons?" asked Jimmy.
"I don't know for certain," replied Jack; "but I've got my suspicions.Herb was running in a careless way and just as like as not he managed tosnag his boat. If that's what happened, we're in for a peck of trouble;for there's no boat builder within many miles of this place, and we'd belucky to find even a piece of shore to pull her up on."
Motor Boat Boys Among the Florida Keys; Or, The Struggle for the Leadership Page 14
