Dave Porter in the South Seas/Chapter 25
CHAPTER XXV
SWEPT ONWARD BY A TIDAL WAVE
"Off at last, and I am glad of it!"
"I suppose you are anxious to get to Nanpi, Dave?"
"I am, Roger. Can you blame me?"
"Not at all. In fact, if I were in your place, I think I'd be even more anxious. Meeting this Dunston Porter means so much to you," went on the senator's son.
The two chums were on the forward deck of the Stormy Petrel and the bark was just leaving the harbor of Tolao. It was a clear day, with a bright sun high overhead, and the boys felt in excellent spirits.
Nothing had been seen or heard of Jasper Van Blott, and, with the sailing of the bark, he was practically forgotten by Dave and Roger. But Phil and the captain remembered him and were sorry that they had not been able to bring the wicked supercargo to justice.
Although he was in nominal authority, Captain Marshall turned over the cargo books to Phil, and the shipowner's son did very well when it came to straightening out the tangle left by Van Blott. Phil wished to make a clean report to his father and worked with a will, until he "knew where he was at," as he declared.
"I rather think it will open my father's eyes," said Phil. "He has suspected Van Blott for some time, but he didn't think of anything like this."
On the second day out the wind died down utterly, and this state of affairs continued for sev eral days. The sails flapped idly against the masts, and scarcely any progress was made.
"We are not going to make such a quick passage, after all," remarked Roger. "My! but this is slow work, I must declare!"
"And haven't you noticed the heat?" added Phil. "It seems to me to be unusually hot."
"It is," said Dave, who had been consulting a thermometer. "This is our warmest day, by four degrees. If it gets much warmer, we'll certainly melt."
That afternoon the sea appeared to be strangely agitated, and toward night the sailors noticed a large number of dead fish rising to the surface. Dave discovered a large shark, and this proved to be dead, also.
"There has been some disturbance under the ocean's surface," said Captain Marshall. "More than likely an earthquake."
"An earthquake! And we never knew it!" ejaculated Roger, and his tone showed his disappointment.
In the morning the sea was more agitated than ever. One minute it would appear to flatten out, the next, two waves would come together with a clash that sent the spray flying upward for many feet. More dead fish were in evidence on every hand.
"I have never witnessed anything like this," commented Captain Marshall. "I trust it gets no worse."
When the breeze sprang up, it came from the wrong direction, and the Stormy Petrel had to tack as best she could. The breeze kept growing stiffer and stiffer, until it was little short of a gale. Then a thick mist settled down on the ocean, shutting out the view upon all sides.
"I must say I don't like this," observed the senator's son. "Supposing we should run into some thing?"
"There isn't much to run into," replied Dave. "I just asked the captain, and he told me we were a good many miles from land of any sort."
"We might run into some other ship."
"There seem to be very few ships in this locality."
Morning found the Stormy Petrel still surrounded by the mist, and there was now little or no wind. The barometer had gone down, and the captain ordered some sail taken in, in anticipation of a storm.
At noon the mist appeared to lift a little, and once more the wind sprang up. This continued for several hours, when, of a sudden, a strange humming filled the air.
"What can that be?" cried Dave, who was on the forward deck.
"It's wind!" cried Billy Dill. "A reg'lar tor nado, too."
Captain Marshall was on deck, no longer disposed to trust his first mate. He at once ordered all of the sails taken in and stowed away securely. This was just accomplished, when the hurricane—for it was nothing less—struck the Stormy Petrel, almost sending the bark on her beam ends.
"Better go below!" shrieked the captain to the three boys. "It's not safe for you on deck."
"I'll be careful," answered Phil, but the master of the bark shook his head, and then the three lads started for the companionway, holding on to first one thing and then another as they moved along.
Phil had just reached the bottom of the steps, Roger was half-way down, and Dave still at the top, when a wild cry from the bow reached their ears.
"Hold tight, all of ye!" came in the voice of Billy Dill. "Hold on, or ye'll be swept overboard, sure!"
Everybody on board the Stormy Petrel realized that this could be no idle warning, and all held on like grim death to anything that was handy. The next moment there was a strange hissing and pounding of the ocean, and, in a twinkling, the Stormy Petrel was caught on what seemed to be the top of a giant wave and carried along as if in the grip of a demon of the deep!
The upward and forward movement came with such a force that nearly everybody was taken clean and clear off his feet, and had not each one clung fast, as directed by Billy Dill, somebody must surely have been flung overboard. The bark turned around and around on the top of the wave, and then lurched forward and went on and on, the spray flying so thickly that scarcely a thing of what was beyond could be seen.
"My gracious!" gasped Roger, who had been flung down on top of Phil. "What is this?"
"Don't ask me!" returned Dave, who was sitting on the upper step with his arms entwined around the companionway rail. "I guess it's an earth quake and a hurricane rolled into one."
"Has anybody gone overboard?" asked Phil, as he tried to stand up.
"I don't know. Billy Dill gave the warning."
The door to the cabin was open, and the three lads fairly tumbled into the compartment. The bark was rocking to such an extent that to stand upright was out of the question. Everything that was loose was on the floor, shifting from one side to the other.
The boys waited with bated breath, and a few minutes later heard a crash on the deck, which told that a topmast, or one of the yards, had come down. Then came a yell of alarm from one of the sailors.
"We are going to sink! We are going to sink!"
"Did you hear that?" ejaculated Roger. "He said the Stormy Petrel was going to sink!"
"What shall we do?" put in Phil. "I don't want to drown!"
Phil had scarcely spoken when a side door to one of the staterooms burst open and a man came forth, wild with terror, his face scratched and bleeding. Much to their amazement, they saw it was Jasper Van Blott.
"Is the ship really going down?" cried the former supercargo, in a trembling voice.
"Where did you come from?" cried Dave.
"I—er—I've been in hiding. But, tell me, are we going down?"
"I don't know."
"I—er—I must go on deck and see. It nearly killed me, the bark bounced around so," went on Van Blott.
He started for the companionway, but had not yet reached the top when a big wave hit the Stormy Petrel broadside, sweeping the deck from end to 
The former supercargo was washed off the steps and came
down flat on his back.—Page 225.
end and sending some of the water into the cabin. The former supercargo was washed off the steps and came down flat on his back, screaming with terror.
The boys were nearly as much alarmed, and, as soon as it was possible to do so, all three crawled up to where they could get a view of the deck and the sea beyond.
The outlook was truly startling. The ocean was whipped up into a milk-white foam and was dash ing and churning in all directions. One tre mendous wave was rolling straight to the south ward, and on this the bark was riding, like a monkey on a runaway race horse. The wind was whistling through the rigging, and the sky was filled with dark clouds and a strange, whitish dust.
"What is this?" called Dave to the captain, as the latter passed.
"It's a tidal wave!" yelled back Captain Marshall. "There has been another earthquake, and, most likely, some of the volcanoes in this vicinity have become active."
"Are we going down, as that sailor said?"
"Not yet. I will warn you, if there is any danger of our sinking."
"You can't put out any small boats, can you?" asked Phil.
"No, a small boat would not live a minute in such a sea as is now running."
"Has anybody been washed overboard?" asked Roger.
"I believe not—but I am not sure. It came on so sudden, we had no time to prepare for it," said Captain Marshall.
"Mr. Van Blott is below," said Dave.
"Van Blott! You must be dreaming!"
"No. He had been in hiding, and the alarm scared him."
"Humph! Well, we'll take care of him later—if we get out of this with a whole skin."
The boys could do nothing on deck, and so went below again, to find that the former supercargo had disappeared.
"It doesn't matter," observed Phil. "We know he is on board, and he can't get away until we land, and I guess we can root him out before that time."
The Stormy Petrel was still being carried forward, but now the motion was a bit more steady than before. It was true that she had encountered a tidal wave, due to a submarine earthquake, and also true that a volcano on the island of Cholomu had become active. The fine volcanic dust floated for miles over the ocean, covering the bark from stem to stern as with flour.
Half an hour later came another alarm. Somebody roared out: "Breakers ahead!" and in a moment more the Stormy Petrel was in the midst of a choppy sea, and staggered from side to side, as if ready to go over. Then came a scraping at the bottom.
"We have struck a reef!" cried the first mate. "We are done for now!" But, even as he spoke, the bark went on, over the reef and into what seemed to be a large harbor. Far in the distance could be seen a palm-fringed shore, with the waves dashing high up on the sands.
It took Captain Marshall but an instant to consider the situation, and he immediately gave orders to cast an anchor. The Stormy Petrel continued to rush onward, but quarter of a mile from the shore the forward progress was checked. Then another anchor was dropped, and it was seen that this had secured a good hold. In the meantime the waters of the tidal wave began to recede, and by sunset the ocean was almost as calm as ever.
"Thank fortune, that peril is a thing of the past!" said Dave, fervently; and the other boys and Captain Marshall echoed his sentiments.