CHAPTER XXII.--REUNITED!
Frank's heart sank as he cast a look about him and perceived thehelplessness of his position.
"If I could only get this gag off and shout for help," he thought,"maybe somebody would hear me."
But there seemed to be no means of compassing this end, try as he wouldto think of some way. All at once, as the stars were beginning to fadeand a faint flush of gray appeared in the east, he perceived a nailsticking up on the rim of the barrel. This gave him an idea. By bendingslightly he would be able to bring the edge of the gag against the sharppointed bit of metal, and possibly tear it out. At any rate, it wasworth trying, and Frank at once proceeded to put his plan into action.
It was a hard job to bend low enough to bring his mouth on a level withthe nail, but fortunately the barrel was a large one, and consequentlyhe had not so very far to stoop. By making a desperate effort hesucceeded at last in dragging the gag across the nail. In doing this hescratched his chin, but he did not mind that, for the nail caught andheld the rag, tearing it out of his mouth as he moved his head.
"Hurray!" breathed Frank, inhaling a great lungful of fresh air. "Now Ican at least make a racket, and maybe that will bring some one."
With all his might he began shouting for help. In the still morning airhis voice carried clearly across the water, and to the lad's hugedelight it was not long before he perceived, coming toward him a smallfishing boat, which, from the "chugging" sound it made, was evidentlyfurnished with a gasolene engine.
But the question that now agitated the boy was, "Would they see him orhear his voice above the loud noise of the motor?" If they did not,Frank realized that his plight would pass from a serious to a desperatestate, for the barrel was, by this time, caught in a current which wasrapidly increasing the distance between himself and the shore.
To his intense relief, however, he saw the fishing boat suddenly changeher course, and before long she was close enough for him to read thename "_Two Sisters_" on her broad, bluff bow.
"Waal, by the tarnal!" came a gruff voice, "who and what are yer outhere in a ba'rl?"
The speaker, a burly-looking fellow, with a rough but kindlycountenance, regarded Frank's face, which was all that was visible ofhim, with the most intense astonishment, as well he might. In a longexperience off shore, covering all sorts of adventures, Captain ElihuCarney of the _Two Sisters_ had never before beheld a floating barrelwith a human head projecting from it.
"It's a kid--a boy!" shouted one of his mates from the stern of the _TwoSisters_, where he held the tiller.
"Crack-e-e! so it air. Hey, kid, what yer doin' out here? Takin' acruise, or is this one of them new-fangled health cures?"
"It's neither, I assure you," cried Frank; "get me out of this and I'lltell you all about it."
"I'll run alongside and you can climb out."
"No, I can't," returned Frank; "I'm bound hand and foot."
"What! Say, you be'ant one of them movin' picter fellers makin' a fillumbe yer?"
Captain Carney's rugged face held a look full of suspicion. Once notlong before his boat had been boarded by a beauteous maiden, apparentlyfleeing from a band of desperadoes. The gallant captain had fished herout of the dory in which she was rowing from her pursuers and hadthreatened the apparent rascals with all sorts of dire things. Then tohis chagrin a voice had hailed him:
"Hey, you old mossback! You've spoiled a grind!"
A "grind" being moving picture language for a film.
"I certainly am not," returned Frank indignantly; "no moving picturesabout this, I can tell you. This is the real thing."
"Waal, as I don't see no camera about I reckon it's all right. Put herhead round, Eph, and we'll pick him up, but 'once bitten twice shy,' youknow."
Eph, the helmsman, brought the bow of the _Two Sisters_ round and slowedup the engine. A minute later the fishing boat's side was scraping thebarrel, and Captain Carney's muscular arms lifted Frank out of hisfloating prison as if he had been an infant.
"Waal, I'll be double decked consarned!" he roared, as he saw the ropesthat confined the boy's limbs. "Who done this?"
"Some rascals who had good cause to wish me harm," said Frank. "Isuppose they thought they could get rid of me while they made theirescape."
"What's the world comin' to?" cried the rugged skipper, throwing up hishands.
He reached into his belt for a tarry sailor's knife and cut Frank loosein a few strokes of the keen blade. But the boy was so stiff from lossof circulation that it was some time before he recovered the use of hislimbs. The _Two Sisters_, it turned out, was headed for Bayhaven, towhich port she belonged, but so far had Frank drifted in his--or rathersomebody else's barrel--that he was able to tell his whole story beforethe wharf was reached.
As they neared it the skipper ordered Eph to blow the compressed airwhistle so as to apprise every one ashore that something unusual washappening. Among the crowd that hastened to the wharf in response to thefrenzied tooting Frank recognized Dr. Perkins and Harry. As they drewclose he saw how white and strained their faces were, and realized whatanxiety they must have been through on his account. He shouted loudly,and at the sound of his voice both Harry and the staid inventor set up aseries of cheers that drowned the tooting of the whistle. As for PlumboBoggs, who was also on the wharf, he burst into rhyme at once.
"Home again! home again from the stormy sea; now that your chum is foundall right, don't blame me!"
So saying he capered about, snapping his fingers and performing a dozenodd antics while the _Two Sisters_ was making fast. Without waiting forFrank, who was still stiff and sore, to come up on the wharf, Harry andDr. Perkins jumped to the deck of the _Two Sisters_, and the formerfairly threw his arms about his brother's neck.
"If you only knew how glad I am you have come back," he exclaimed.
"What ever happened to you?" demanded Dr. Perkins.
"It's a long story," said Frank, "and I'm famished. Suppose we askCaptain Carney and Eph to breakfast with us and while we are eating I'lltell you all about it."