“That is enough,” he said.
“I want some for the men,” said the first mate.
“They can get pistols from Captain Blossom when they get here.”
“Humph! You think you are in sole command, don’t you?”
“I am not going to allow you to take away all the firearms that are here, Mr. Lesher.”
“We’ll see:”
The mate went into the pantry and secured another glass of liquor. Then he ordered old Jerry to take the bundle of clothing and put it in the rowboat.
“I’ve got some money on this schooner,” he said. “I want to see if that’s safe, or if you have stolen it.”
“We haven’t touched any money,” answered Dick, his face flushing. “It would be of no use to us on these islands.”
“You come with me while I take a look,” said Lesher.
Behind his back he waved his hand for Baxter to follow. All three went below again, and into a stateroom the mate had occupied.
“The money was in that chest,” said the mate. He threw open the lid. “It’s gone!” he cried.
Interested for the moment, Dick bent forward to look in the chest. As he did so, Lesher suddenly hit him a savage blow over the head with the butt of a pistol. The blow was a heavy one, and Dick fell like a log to the floor.
“Oh!” came from Baxter. “Have you killed him?”
“No; only knocked the senses out of him,” answered Lesher, bending over his victim.
“What did you do it for?”
“To teach him a lesson. He shan’t boss me, Baxter. Come, help me put him in the brig, and be quick, before Jerry comes back.”
They lifted up the insensible form and made their way to where the ship’s brig was located, a dirty closet once used for oil and lanterns. Dick was thrown on the floor, and the mate shut the door on him and locked it.
“Now he can stay there for a day or two,” he snarled. “Reckon it will teach him a lesson.”
“What will you do with the sailor?”
Before Lesher could answer old Jerry appeared.
“Where is Dick Rover?” he asked.
“None of your business,” growled Jack Lesher. “See here, Tolman, are you going to obey me after this?”
“I want to know where Dick is?” said old Jerry stubbornly.
“I put him in the brig to cool off. He’s too hot-headed for his own good.”
“You had no right to lock him up, Mr. Lesher. You must let him out at once.”
“Git out of here, quick!” roared Lesher. “On deck, or I’ll flog you well!”
“Ye won’t tech me!” cried Jerry, his temper rising. “I aint under orders no more, mind that. Now you let him out, or I’ll do it. You was a fool to lock him up in the first place.”
He moved toward the brig, but Lesher caught him by the arm.
“Let’s teach this chap a lesson, too!” came from Baxter, and, like a flash, he struck old Jerry in the back of the head. The first blow was followed by a second, and down went the tar, the blood oozing from one of his wounds.
“Don’t hit him again!” cried Lesher hastily. “He’s out already.”
Baxter grew pale, thinking he had gone too far. But he soon discovered that Jerry still breathed, and then he felt relieved.
It was decided by the pair that they should place old Jerry beside Dick in the brig, and this was quickly done. Then they put into the prison a bucket of drinking water and a can of ship’s biscuits, and another of baked beans.
“They won’t starve on that,” said Lesher. “And when they get out they’ll understand that I am as much of a master here as anybody.”
“It serves Dick Rover right,” said Baxter. “He’s the kind that ought to be kept under foot all the time.”
CHAPTER XXII
A HEAVY TROPICAL STORM
“Those girls will ask some awkward questions, I reckon,” said Jack Lesher, as the two prepared to leave the wreck.
“We had better not say too much,” answered Baxter.
They were soon over the side and in the rowboat, which contained the bundle of clothing and a number of other articles. Then an idea struck the mate.
“Wait; I am going back,” he said, and disappeared on the deck one more.
Dan Baxter imagined that Lesher had gone for more liquor. But he was mistaken. When the mate reappeared, he carried a box containing half a dozen pistols, two guns, and a quantity of ammunition.
“I am going to hide this in the woods on the other side of this island,” he said. “The firearms may come in handy before long.”
“A good idea,” replied Baxter, and helped him place the case in a desirable spot, under some rocks, where the rain could not touch it.
“We are going to have a storm before long,” said the mate, as they started to row back to the camp. “And if it is a heavy one we’ll have to wait till it clears off before we rejoin the rest of our crowd.”
The sky was growing dark, and by the time the beach in front of the house was gained the rain was falling.
“Where are Dick and, old Jerry?” asked Dora in quick alarm. She had noted long before that only Baxter and the mate were in the rowboat.
“They stayed behind on the wreck,” answered Lesher. “Come, help get the bundles out of the wet,” he added to his companion.
“Why did they stay?” asked Nellie.
“Don’t ask me,” growled Lesher.
He and Baxter took the bundle to the house and dumped it on the floor of the living room. Then they brought in the other things from the boat. By this time it was raining in torrents, and from a distance came the rumble of thunder and occasionally the faint flash of lightning.
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 Dick 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 glass 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 glasses 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.
“Dick 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 Dick 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 Dick 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 Dick, 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.
“Somebody calling. Listen!”
All were silent once more, and just then the wind fell a little.
“I don’t hear anything,” said Dora.
But then followed a distant voice—two voices calling desperately:
“Help! help! Our boat is sinking! Help!”
CHAPTER XXIII
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BAY
To go back to Tom, Sam, and Captain Blossom at the time that they placed the two dead goats in their rowboat and prepared to return to the camp.
It was already raining by the time the shore of the bay was reached, and scarcely had they begun to row when the water came pouring down in torrents.
“Gracious! I must say I don’t like this!” cried Tom. “The rain is running down my neck in a stream.”
“I move we row into shore over yonder,” said Sam, pointing up the coast. “There are some trees which will shelter both us and the boat nicely.”
Captain Blossom was willing, and in a few minutes they were under the trees and wringing out their clothes as best they could.
“If I know anything about it, this storm is going to last for some time,” said the captain, after a long look at the sky.
“Such a downfall as this can’t last,” said Sam. “Perhaps we can get home between showers.”
It was dry under the trees for about half an hour, but then the water began to reach them once more, and they had to shift their position again.
This kept up for some time, until all were wet through and thoroughly uncomfortable, when Tom proposed that they start for home regardless of the storm.
“We can’t get any wetter than we are,” he declared. “And the sooner we reach the house the sooner we’ll be able to change our clothes.”
The others agreed, and when the worst of the lightning and thunder had passed they set off once more, two rowing and the third steering the boat and bailing out the water, which came in faster than was desirable.
“When it rains in the tropics, it rains,” observed Tom. “Puts me in mind of that storm we met when we were in Africa. Do you remember, Sam?”
“Indeed, I do,” answered his brother. “I thought we’d all be killed by the trees that fell in the jungle.”
“Have you been in Africa?” came from Captain Blossom in astonishment.
“Yes,” answered Tom. “Our father got lost there once, and we went in search of him,” and he gave a few of the particulars, as already related in another volume of this series, entitled “The Rover Boys in the Jungle.”
“Well, you boys have had some ups and downs,” said the captain. “But I reckon you weren’t cast away before like this.”
“Not like this,” answered Sam. “But we were left on a lonely island once in Lake Huron,” and he related a few particulars of their exciting experiences with the Baxters while on the Great Lakes.
Another downpour of rain cut off the talking, and Tom was kept busy bailing out the row-boat. With three persons and the two dead goats the craft was pretty heavily loaded, and more than once the rising wind swept some water over the bow.
“I’d give a little to be ashore again,” said Tom presently. “It seems to me that the rain is shutting out everything.”
“We’ll have to land again, lads,” put in the captain, with a grave shake of his head. “This wind is growing worse. We don’t want to be swamped.”
They turned to what they thought must be the direction of the nearest shore, but though they pulled with might and main for nearly quarter of an hour no land appeared.
“We’re mixed,” cried Sam. “The storm has twisted us up.”
By this time the wind was blowing a regular gale on the bay. It took off Tom’s cap, and in a twinkle the headgear was out of sight.
“My cap’s gone!” groaned the youth.
“The water is coming in over the bow!” came from Sam. “We will be swamped!”
“We must throw the goats o
verboard,” said the captain, and overboard went the game, much to the boys’ sorrow.
This lightened the craft a little, but still the waves swept over the gunwale, and now both Sam and Tom set to bailing, while the captain took both oars. Then came another blast of wind, worse than before.
“I see land!” cried Sam.
“We are going over!” yelled Tom, and the wind fairly whipped the words from his lips. Then came a mighty wave, and on the instant the rowboat was upset, and all three found themselves in the waters of the bay.
As they went under the same thought was in the mind of each: Were there any sharks around?
“Help! help!” cried Sam, as soon as he came up. “Our boat is sinking. Help!” And Tom soon joined in the cry. They had caught hold of the overturned boat, but the craft, for some reason, failed to support them.
Captain Blossom was close at hand, and he advised them to strike out for the shore.
“It’s in this direction,” he said, and led the way.
“I—I can’t swim very far with my clothes on,” gasped Sam, yet he struck out as best he could.
“Hullo! Who calls?” came a cry from the shore, and, looking up, they saw Dora standing there, with Nellie and Grace Laning close beside her.
“It’s Tom and Sam!” cried Nellie.
“And Captain Blossom,” added Grace.
“Perhaps we can throw them a rope,” came from Dora, and she ran to get the article she had mentioned.
But by the time she returned the three swimmers had reached a point where they could touch bottom with their feet, and, watching for a favorable opportunity, they rushed ashore, almost into the arms of the girls.
“Oh, Tom, how glad I am that you are safe!” cried Nellie, while Grace caught hold of Sam and asked if he was all right.
“Yes, I am—am all right, but—but pretty well fagged out,” gasped Sam.
“It was a close shave,” said Captain Blossom. “And our guns are gone.”
“We had two dead goats, too,” put in Tom. “They went overboard first, and—goodness gracious—is that really Dan Baxter?”
“Dan Baxter!” ejaculated Sam, and even Captain Blossom stared in amazement.
“I see you’ve had a rough time of it,” said Baxter, coming forward coolly. “How are you?”
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 102
