*CHAPTER XI.*
*THE ESCAPE.*
The time passed much more quickly to the crowd listening to Joe, as theylay on the rocks in every attitude imaginable, than to Walter and Nedunder the cliff, with the sea still surging around them.
As soon as their fright was over, they began to blame each other for thetrouble they were in.
"It was your idea, hiding from the boys," said Ned, as they paced to andfro as far as their prison would allow.
"Yes; but you were just as willing as I, old fellow. We were bothidiots. We might have known the tide would cut us off."
"Won't the teachers laugh at us! 'Serve them right,' they'll say,plague on them!" grumbled Ned.
"Well, it does serve us right; but I wish the boys would keep quietabout it though, and not give the teachers a chance to laugh at us."
"But they won't; they'll say it's too good to keep."
The lunch lowered by the mate restored their good-nature, and theywaited, watch in hand, as the waters abated around their perch. Nedeven recovered enough to joke about their misfortune, and Walter sang,--
"On a lone, barren isle, Where the wild, angry billows Assail the stern rock," etc.
At length the tide was so low they ventured out to the high rock thatshut them away from the rest of the party; and too impatient to waitlonger, they doffed boots and stockings, rolled their trousers abovetheir knees, and, waiting till the waves rolled back, they dashed intothe water, and were quickly around the other side of the cliff, and insight of their companions.
"There they are!" shouted Don Parker, interrupting Joe's story in itsmost exciting part.
"Where?"--"Who?"
"Walt and Ned."
"Sure enough, so they are!"
"Hurrah!"--"Welcome to the castaways!" cried the crowd, leaping to theirfeet.
"Glad to see you, old fellows!" said Joe; "but you gave us an awfulfright."
"We gave ourselves a greater, I'll be bound," said Walter frankly."That was a mighty uncomfortable place we stumbled into."
"Yes, and we thought we'd seen the last of you fellows," added Ned,throwing himself down upon the rock, and pillowing his head on hislocked arms as he lay on his back. "That's just as near as I want tocome to Robinson Crusoe's experience. We were worse off than he was--hehad plenty of room; and one time when the tide was highest we had thespray flying over our heads. My coat is wet now."
"Is it this week, or next, or the year 1900?" said Walt. "It seems agessince we dodged around behind that rock to see if we could frightenyou."
"You won't feel complimented, I am afraid," said Joe laughing, "when Itell you we didn't miss you till noon. We were so busy fishing, wethought only of that, until some one went to cook fish; then we all gothungry and decided to have a lunch. When we got ready to eat we missedyou."
"That was when we heard them shouting, Ned."
"Yes, I suppose so."
"Why didn't you answer?"
"We did; we just yelled. But it was no use, and we knew it, for wecould hardly hear you, the sea roared so, as it made up into that pocketin the cliff; and we knew by the sound that you were all shoutingtogether, though it reached us just as faintly. Oh! it was awful there.I thought I was a pretty good kind of a fellow till then, and I thoughtof all the bad things I ever did."
"So did I," said Ned, looking up at the clouds meditatively. "I wonderif folks always do when they get into danger?"
"I think they do. I've heard my uncle tell how he felt when he camewithin an inch of drowning. He said everything came back to him like aflash," said Cliff Davis.
"Well, it's awful anyway!" added Walter. "I shall never forget how itseemed to have that water come at us like wild beasts, roaring andsnapping at us as if it would swallow us whole in a minute."
"Don't talk about it, Walt," said Ned shuddering "I saw you down belowthere, when Mr. Kramer first hailed you," said Joe to change thesubject, which was getting painful.
"You did?" asked Ned, opening his half-closed eyes.
"You did?" echoed the crowd.
"Where were you?"
"Yes, that's what we would like to know."
"Up on the cliff, lying flat on my stomach; but as soon as I got oneglimpse, Mr. Kramer ordered me back."
"Why didn't you tell us, so we could look?" grumbled the crowd.
"I didn't want you to break your necks. It was bad enough to have twofellows down in that trap, without letting the rest of the party tumbledown on them. Kramer drove me back, but I went and peeped onceafterwards. Dave knew I was going. I couldn't stand it a minutelonger; I knew the men had gone in the boat, and was afraid you twowould drown before it could get around there, or afraid the boat wouldswamp if you tried to get in. I prayed hard for a minute."
"Did you?" asked Walter, looking quickly at Joe. "So did I--harder thanI ever did before in all my life."
Ned said nothing, but lay with his eyes closed; and the other boys wereunusually quiet.
"Wasn't I glad to hear you say, 'It's twelve o'clock, and we are safe!'"
"Is my hair gray, Joe?" asked Walter, half laughing, and half inearnest, as he took off his round cap, and revealed a crop of shortblack curls.
"Not much that I can see."
"I have heard of hair turning gray from fright, and I thought perhaps Imight be needing hair-dye."
"When shall we go back to camp, boys?" asked Dave.
"It depends on whether you are going to tell about our scrape, whether Igo back at all," replied Walter, laughing, and yet half in earnest."You fellows promise not to say anything about it, won't you?"
"I am willing. It's all over now, and no harm done to any one; but theteachers will hear of it from Kramer," replied Joe.
"Yes, I suppose so; but don't let's tell to-day."
"Just as you say. We got a joke on ourselves too. While we were rushingaround looking at the boat, the tide came up over our baskets of fishand the lunch, and carried off the very best of the fishing-rods. So thelaugh will be against us all."
"Here is Jonas with his 'man Friday,' after the fish!" exclaimed MauricePerry, doubling up with a fit of laughter, as he glanced at the emptybaskets that had been rescued after much effort.
"Well, boys, had good luck?" called Jonas as soon as he came withinspeaking distance.
"First-rate, Jonas," answered Joe.
"Where are the fish, then?" demanded Jonas, staring at the emptybaskets.
"Echo answers, 'Where?'"
"You didn't catch any, after all. You've been foolin' around here allday!" cried the cook wrathfully. "Now you'll get little supper for this,'cause I've been dependin' on them fish. Here, give me a rod! I'llcatch some for the gentlemen's supper. You boys can go without.--Comeon, Freitag!"
The boys were rolling on the rocks and laughing, which added greatly toJonas's wrath.
"Lazy scamps!" he said.
"Now, Jonas," remonstrated Joe, as soon as he could recover himself andsober his face enough to speak, "we are not laughing at you; we arelaughing at ourselves. Don't get mad. We met with a big misfortune.We got fish enough to stock a market--beauties too; and while we wentover to see Mr. Kramer the tide came up and swept them all out, andworse still, carried off our fishing-tackle."
"That's so, Jonas."
"Humph! great thing to laugh about!" grumbled Jonas, somewhat mollified.
"You ought to pity rather than scold us," cried Joe, pretending to feelhurt. "We lost most of our lunch, too. You'll do as well as you canfor us with supper, won't you?--'cause this has been an awful hard dayon us."
"Oh--oh, hear!" cried the crowd, writhing again in convulsions oflaughter.
Jonas shrewdly suspected that they had not told all their bad luck; buthe had heard enough, and summoning Friday to get a fishing-rod and hurryalong, he went down where it seemed most probable to him that the fishwould be plenty.
When the boys went back to camp they fully intended to
keep the rest ofthe story to themselves; but at the supper-table, when Mr. Bernard askedfor an account of their day's adventures, each looked at his neighbourto see who would be spokesman, and in looking they fell to laughing, andthere was no one sober enough to answer.
"You evidently had a very jolly day, boys," said Mr. Bernard, with atwinkle in his gray eyes.
"Not very, sir," said Joe, feeling that it was impolite to leave theremark unanswered. The boys all laughed again, and Joe said, "The tidecarried off our lunch, and our fish, and ever so many of the best rods."
"Ah, that was bad, but not half so had as if you were in dangeryourselves."
The boys exchanged glances, and Walter and Ned reddened veryuncomfortably.
Had the news travelled across the island so soon?
Surely Mr. Andrews and Mr. Lane both looked very wise as they glanceddown the double row of boys.
"It's no use; I am going to tell," exclaimed Walter abruptly. "We had ahorrid time, Mr. Bernard. Ned and I got hemmed in by the tide, and hadto stay five hours. It wasn't much fun."
"I had heard as much, Walter," said Mr. Bernard kindly. "Mr. Kramertold Jonas. We may thank a kind Providence that you escaped with yourlives. It was a very frightful experience, I am sure. I don't see howany of you can feel like laughing."
"O Mr. Bernard," said Joe apologetically, "we didn't all day, I assureyou. We were wretched enough while Walt and Ned were missing; but afterthey got back safe, and we came to think it all over, and remember thatwe were only having our own way as we wanted to, and what a hard way ithad turned out, it struck us as a pretty good joke on ourselves."
"Perhaps it was, boys, but the escape has given us new cause forthankfulness to the good Lord who holds us in his keeping, and I thinkour little prayer-meeting to-night will become a praise-meeting, inwhich every heart will join."