Fairview Boys at Lighthouse Cove/Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI
IN THE STORM
Despairingly the boys, shut up in the cabin of the Skip, looked at one another. They had to cling to the bunks and the sides of the bulkheads in order not to be thrown down, so violent was the motion of the craft. Sometimes the boat would whirl completely around, and after this had happened several times Bob cried:
"Fellows, there's only one thing to do!"
"What's that?" asked Sammy. "Can we do anything?"
"We've just got to," said Frank. "If we don't we'll sink pretty soon, and be drowned. I think I know what you mean, Bob. You mean we've got to steer the boat?"
"That's it! She's going every which way now, and there's no telling what may happen. If we can get at the wheel we may be able to send her ashore."
"But the wheel is outside!" cried Sammy. "We can't go out in this storm to steer."
"Oh, yes we can, if we had to," said Bob. "But we don't have to. There's another wheel inside the cabin, you know."
And so there was, Silas having arranged this for his own comfort in stormy weather. The Skip could be guided either by the wheel outside in what might be called the cockpit, or from within the cabin. And in the cabin, up forward, were small windows, or bull's-eyes, through which the steersman could look.
"If we could only start the motor we could turn around and go back," suggested Frank, while they were trying to make their way up front, to the wheel, without banging against the sides of the cabin.
"Oh, we'd better not try to monkey with that—especially in this storm," said Bob. "If we can only keep the boat straight ahead, so it won't whirl around so, and make us dizzy, it will be a good thing. After the storm we can try the motor."
"But by that time we will be out to sea!" cried Sammy.
"We can't help it," came from Bob. "Here goes now, to see what sort of a course I can steer."
The wheel was twisting and turning this way and that as the waves moved the rudder. Bob turned the spokes until he had the one with ring marks on it exactly upright in front of him. When this had been done, Silas had told them, the rudder was straight, and the boat would go straight ahead.
And, as Bob looked from the bull's-eye, he saw nothing ahead but a straight course of water. The waves had been whipped into whitecaps of foam, but there seemed no obstruction, and with the wind blowing them, and the tide carrying them, all the Fairview boys could do was to keep on.
"It sure is some storm!" murmured Frank, as a louder clash of thunder than any before seemed to shake the very boat.
"And we're in it!" murmured Sammy. "What will our folks think?"
"Oh, Silas will tell them," said Bob, as he braced his feet apart to meet the heaving motion of the boat.
"Yes, he's left behind there on the dock," said Frank. "Our rope must have broke when the wind and waves banged us about that time. He'll tell the folks all right."
"But that won't stop mother from worrying," said Bob, anxiously, for he disliked to cause her or his father anxiety.
"They'll come after us," remarked Sammy. "Silas will get another boat and come for us."
"If he can find us," spoke Bob. "But if we go out to sea I don't believe he can easily pick us up."
"Oh, he will, sooner or later," went on Frank, who did not seem to feel so badly about it as Bob did. "Don't get scared."
"Oh, I'm not exactly scared," replied Bob, stoutly, "for this is a good boat. But a storm at sea is no fun!"
"Maybe it isn't storming out there," suggested Sammy.
"It's sure to be," declared Bob. "But we've got to make the best of it. We've got plenty to eat, that's one good thing."
"And a good place to stay," added Frank. "We're better off than when the Puff was wrecked."
"But we may be wrecked yet," put in Bob,
"Oh, cheer up!" advised Sammy. "We'll be laughing at this in a few hours."
"But how dark it is!" said Bob. "It's almost like night!"
"We've got lanterns here," suggested Frank. "Why not light them? And it might be good to show a light outside, so no other boat will run into us."
"Let's do it!" cried Bob. "I'll steer and you fellows can light up. There are some oilskin suits in one of the lockers, Silas said. You can put one on when you go outside."
The lighting of the lanterns made the boys feel less gloomy, and when Frank and Sammy, putting on the yellow oilskin coats, went outside and hung lanterns there, the boat was in less danger of collision.
"Say, we must be almost to the ocean," cried Frank, as he and Sammy came into the cabin again.
"What makes you think so?" asked Bob.
"Because I can hear the booming of the surf. We*ll be out on it in a little while."
"Well, we can't help it," said Bob. "I thought we were there long ago, the way we bobbed up and down."
"Yes, it is rough," said Sammy. "We must be almost in the inlet, fellows. Silas said it was always dangerous to go through there."
"But not so bad on the out-going tide," spoke Bob, quickly, and he was glad he had remembered that point. "I guess we'll make it all right," he added, hopefully.
The storm did not grow less. The lightning still flashed and the thunder rolled, while the rain came down in torrents. The cockpit was fitted with scuppers, or openings that allowed the water to run off, or otherwise the Skip would have been flooded. As it was, some water came into the cabin under the doors. But the boys did not mind this.
Had the motor been running they would have reached the inlet, and gone through it into the open sea, some time before. But as it was they were only blowing and drifting along.
"Well, there's no use staying this way," said Frank, after a bit, as he felt of his wet clothes. "I'm going to take off some of them and get dry. We can light the oil stove."
"And get something to eat," added Sammy.
Somehow or other this idea seemed to make all the boys feel better. The stove was soon glowing and the cabin was cozy and warm. Indeed, but for the fact that they were storm-driven out to sea, and were so alarmed, the boys would have enjoyed the adventure.
They took off some of their wet garments, and hung them near the oil stove to get dry. There were blankets in the bunks, and in these they wrapped themselves up. Frank put some coffee on the stove to warm, though the boys, as a rule did not take this beverage. Still they thought it might prevent their taking cold.
Little could now be seen outside, for to the darkness of the storm was added the gloom of coming night. The boys were anxious as to what Mrs. Bouncer might think, and they did not know what would be the outcome of this drifting into the ocean. But they could do nothing except what they were doing.
They could only hope for rescue.
The boys were taking their coffee, and eating some of the sandwiches Silas had made, when suddenly the boat was tossed about more violently than ever before. She rose up, with her now high in the air, and things in the cabin slid toward the stern. Then the bow went down and the stern rose up.
"What's happening?" cried Frank.
"Listen!" exclaimed Bob.
"That's the surf!" called Sammy. "We're going through the inlet into the ocean!"
There was a terrific crash of thunder, and a brilliant flash of lightning. Looking through the bull's-eyes Bob could see the heaving billows. Then, as the Skip ceased her violent motions, and began to move regularly up and down. Bob cried:
"We're out to sea, boys! Think of it! Out on the ocean!"