*CHAPTER VI.*
*THE FOG-STORM.*
There were two or three more days of pleasant weather, with boating andfishing and target-shooting; and then a fog crept in, hiding the oceanfrom view, and even shutting down like a thick curtain between thetents.
"Thick enough to bite," Joe said.
Everything was wet, and Jonas was cross; so there was not much comfort,although most of the party were cheerful and good-natured.
The table was taken apart and set up in the large tent; but Jonas andhis Friday had further to travel with the meals, and they grumbledaccordingly.
"No knowin' how long this fog will hang around," growled Jonas, as heset the tin plates down with a clatter.
"I've known it to last a week," said Frank Furman.
"A week! what are you thinkin' of? It about always lasts a week! I'veknown it to last a month!"
"O Jonas!" chorused the boys, glad to see any signs of good-nature,"have you really?"
"Humph! I camped out with a party once, and we never saw the sun afterwe landed till the day we left, and that was three weeks; for they werehardy fellows, and they said they were bound to stay till that fogcleared out, if it took all the vacation."
"Did they?" asked Joe, as Jonas paused in his story to count plates.
"No, they didn't. They got enough of it; and when the third week wasended, and the fog was packed down tighter than ever, one of 'em said,'Come, boys, I'll give it up. I am completely mildewed now, inside andout. We have eaten and drunk and breathed fog for twenty-one days, andfor once I've had enough of one thing.'"
"Well, Jonas, go on; what did the rest do?" asked David.
"Why, they all said 'Amen,' and packed up as quick as they could, andgot into the yacht, and started for the nearest shore. We had to go bythe compass, because we'd no idea where the sun was. Part of the way werowed, and part of the way we drifted, and by-and-by we got ashore.Once in a while I see one of them fellows, and they laugh about it now,and call it a good joke; but they didn't laugh much then."
"You didn't neither, I'm sure," said Freitag, shrugging his shoulders.
"You are right there. I felt like I could bite a board-nail, for I hadto work around, good weather or bad. No, there was only one fellow thatcalled it funny, after the first two or three days; and that man nearlykilled himself laughing about it! That fellow would have found a queerside to his own tombstone. He laughed about the fog, and he laughed atthe way the other fellows took it; and he laughed so when he left theisland, that the others threatened to throw him overboard. I've neverseen him but once since, and he began again as soon as he spied me; andhe dragged me into a shop and bought me a nice pipe, laughing all thetime the shopman was doing it up. 'That was a jolly trip, Jonas!' sayshe; and I heard him chuckling after I left him.--But goodness, Freitag,ring that bell! the breakfast will be stone-cold."
"You don't suppose this will last," said Max Bernard disconsolately."Our tent is dripping now. We'll all be sick!"
"Sick! nonsense! You won't get cold in a salt fog," cried WalterMartin.
"It will most likely end in a big storm," exclaimed Jonas croakingly,feeling quite safe in making such a prophecy.
The boys groaned at the suggestion, and one of them remarked that "therewas nothing so consoling in dull weather as making toffy."
Joe, remembering that Jonas had lost his jackknife, slipped his own intohis hand as a bribe, and got his unwilling consent to give them butterand sugar and a chance to boil it.
Joe Chester and David Winter were chief cooks on the occasion, with alarge crowd of advisers and tasters; and when the toffy was boiled theypoured it into a baking-pan to cool, and took it to the large tent.
Although Jonas had given them a generous supply of sugar and butter,there were so many boys the toffy was eaten before it was thoroughlycool.
They had a great deal of fun over it, and the pleasure helped to whileaway the dull day.
They could not have toffy-making every day, and the fog still remained.Some days the fog did not lift at all, and at other times it woulddisappear for an hour or two, giving them a glimpse of bright sunshine,then it would return to wrap them in as closely as ever.
One day they had the good fortune to see a fog-bow, which is like arainbow in very subdued colours--"a Quaker rainbow," Joe called it.
After a week had passed, and the boys had exhausted their resources forindoor amusement, the storm predicted by Jonas commenced in the night.
Joe waked his friend Dave by pulling his hair, words having failed toarouse him.
"Let go there!" growled Dave.
"Wake up, boy! wake up! There's an awful storm!"
"What d'you say?" asked Dave sleepily.
"There's an awful storm, I tell you! Don't you hear the rain pelting onthe tent? The wind blows like fury. I expect our tent will be down ina minute. The water is all running in under the canvas."
"Dripping through it, too," cried David, thoroughly awakened by thegreat drops that fell fast upon his upturned face, to avoid which hesprang from bed only to alight in a pool of water deep enough to splashunder his feet.
Both boys laughed in spite of their discomfort, and just then Mr.Bernard came to the tent and rapped on the canvas.
"Boys, how are you getting on?"
"Oh, _swimmingly_."
"Yes, I presume so. It is a fearful storm! You are fortunate to haveyour tent standing. Several have blown down. You had better come overto the large tent. We have been strengthening the stakes around that.Wrap yourselves in your blankets and run."
The boys got on their rubber boots, and covering themselves with theirred blankets, they opened the tent, stood a moment to watch the sheet ofrain as it descended, and then ran across to Mr. Bernard's tent, whichwas about two rods away.
"Let us in!" cried Joe, bumping his blanketed head against the canvascurtain. Some one opened the tent, and the two boys stumbled in.
"Joe and Dave!"
"Oh, got drowned out, too!"
"Did your tent go down?"
"For once Joe Chester's got water enough!"
And the boys inside made room on the table where most of them wereperched.
The teachers, with Jonas and Freitag, were driving stakes inside andfastening the tent to them to help to anchor it; and it seemed to needit, for sometimes the wind would sweep in beneath the canvas and swellit like a big balloon, as if it must either burst or go up in spite ofropes and stakes.
"God help the sailors!" exclaimed Mr. Bernard solemnly, as one of thesudden gusts died away.
"Oh, Ralph and Ben!" cried Joe. "Where are they? Do you suppose theyare out in that little vessel, Mr. Bernard?"
"God forbid! I trust they are in some safe harbour. Fishermen are wisein such matters."
"But if they _are_ out!" continued Joe anxiously. "Ralph will befrightened! You know he is a coward, and afraid of the water, anyway."
"I don't see how they happened to go in a vessel," said Frank Furman.
"They went to get away from us all, poor fellows; they didn't know whatelse to do," said Joe pityingly. "Besides, the weather was pleasantthen, and the water didn't look as if it ever could be rough; don't youremember?"
"I think they have been sick enough of it before this," suggestedanother.
"Oh, very likely they are safe in their own homes, and pitying us poorwretches. They would be likely to get that fisherman to put them ashoreat the first port they made," added Ned Gould.
Still Joe worried about them, and Mr. Bernard was very solemn; he hadbeen anxious about the two absent lads ever since the storm commenced.
The wind continued till morning, but the rain ceased soon aftermidnight, and the boys, wrapped in their damp blankets, lay across thelong table with legs dangling down the side, packed very closelytogether, and trying to sleep; but the roaring of the sea, and therattle of the stones tossed by the waves, the creaking of the tent as itswayed to and fro
as far as the ropes would allow, all combined to keepthem awake.
Some gave up the effort to go to sleep, and tried to while away the timeby telling doleful stories of shipwrecks and other disasters; and then,growing sleepy at daylight when the others went out to see the havoc ofthe storm, they were sound asleep when Mr. Bernard's bell summoned theboys for prayers, and they had no time for a morning toilet.
The thanksgiving for shelter and safety in the fearful storm found anecho in every heart; and when he prayed for their two companions thatthey might be returned to their friends in safety and with thedetermination to be true and noble boys hereafter, Chester felt likeuttering a loud amen.
The sun was shining brightly again, and every trace of fog was gone, butthe wind was still blowing, and the sea a perfect witch's caldron.
After breakfast the bedding was taken out to dry, and anchored withlarge stones to the ledge to keep it from flying away.
The tents were once more pitched, and they all felt that with the returnof the sun there was also a return of pleasure in camp-life.
Even Jonas seemed in a fair way towards good-nature again, and that madethem all more cheerful.
During the fog-storm he had been crabbed enough; and Joe said if he sawa boy come within five yards of the cook-tent he would growl like abear.
He was improving now, and when one of the boys suggested doughnuts for avariety, Jonas announced that the next job he "tackled" should be to frydoughnuts.[#]
[#] Small, roundish cakes.
"Twisted fellows, Jonas," suggested Joe.
"Yes, twisted."
"And will you give us one while they are hot?"
"Ye-es; go 'long with you, every one of ye."