CHAPTER XXVII
THE DERELICT
The wind freshened after they reached shelter and it blew very hard. Fora time Frank found sleep impossible, though he was glad to lie snug inthe warm cabin with the lamp burning above him and the stove snappingcheerfully. The sloop lurched and rocked, drawing her chain tight nowand then with a bang, while a muffled uproar went on outside her. Frankcould distinguish the angry splash of water upon her bows and thedrumming and rapping of loose ropes against the mast, though thesesounds were partly drowned by the furious clamor of the ground seabeyond the point and a great deep-toned roaring made, he supposed, bylong ranks of thrashing trees. Once or twice, when Jake, who crawled outto see if the anchor was holding, left the slide open, the sound filledthe cabin with tremendous pulsating harmonies.
Besides this, the boy's face smarted after the lashing of icy spray, andhe wondered whether Mr. Barclay's plans were working out successfullyand what fresh adventures awaited Harry and himself on the morrow, allof which was sufficient to keep him in a state of restless expectation.He envied his companion who presently went to sleep, but it was towardmorning when at last his own eyelids closed and he got a few snatches offitful slumber broken by fantastic dreams. He was awakened by a chillupon his face, and looking around saw that Jake had gone out again intothe well. The roar of the wind did not seem so overwhelming as it hadbeen, though there was no doubt that it was still blowing hard. By andby Jake called out.
"You'd better get up," he said. "I've a notion that there's somebodyhailing us."
Frank crawled out shivering, with Harry grumbling half asleep behindhim, and when he stood in the well found he could see a hazy loom oftrees across the little white waves that came splashing toward the boat.They made a sharp, rippling sound, pitched in a different tone from thedin that rose all around. The latter swelled and sank, and he wasslightly surprised when he was able to hear what seemed to be a faintshout. It rose again more clearly, and there was no longer any doubtthat somebody on the beach was hailing them.
"Can we get ashore?" he asked.
"You'll have to try," said Jake. "The man's to windward of us, and itwill be a stiff paddle, but if you can't manage it you'll blow across tothe beach on the other side of the inlet safe enough and he may be ableto get round to you. Anyway, I don't want to leave the sloop. She'd havepicked up her anchor once or twice if I hadn't given her more cable."
"What time is it?" Harry inquired.
"About seven o'clock," Jake answered. "We'll have daylight soon afteryou're back."
They hauled up the canoe and were not surprised to find that she wasfull of water. It took them some time to bail her out, and Frank feltanxious when at last they pushed her clear of the sloop. It wasdifficult to tell how far off the beach was, and for the first fewmoments they could make no progress against the blast. Then they won ayard or two in a partial lull, and after that for a while barely heldtheir own by determined paddling. Thick rain drove into their faces andthe spray from the bows and splashing blades blew over them. Frank wasbreathless when they reached the beach, and it cost him an effort toscramble over the uneven stones as far as the edge of the bush, where ashadowy figure stood beside a horse. Its head drooped and even in thedarkness, which was not very deep, its attitude was suggestive ofexhaustion. The man was dimly visible, and they felt sure that he wasthe messenger they expected.
"You're here on Barclay's business?" he said.
"Yes," said Harry. "Have you a message for him?"
The man fumbled in his pocket and took out an envelope.
"That's from the boss. I guess it will explain the thing, but he saidI'd better let you know that we'd had trouble."
"Then you didn't get the dope men?"
"We corralled three of them; the rest broke away. One of the boys got abullet in him and he's been lying in the rain all night. I don't knowhow we're going to pack him out."
"Things went wrong?" said Frank.
"They did," the man assented. "One of the boys got his pistol off byaccident just after the boat had come ashore, and that gave our plansaway. The boat's crew shoved off and several men who'd been landed brokethrough in the dark. Anyhow, when the trouble was over we'd got one caseof dope, two whites of no account, and a Chinaman."
"And the schooner?"
"She was heading out to sea with mighty little sail on her when I left.You'll be able to take word through to Barclay?"
"I don't know," Harry answered dubiously. "It's too dark to tell whatthe sea's like now. I suppose there's no other means of warning him?"
"No," said the man. "Even if I could get a message on to the wire theywouldn't be able to deliver it at the other end, but he has to be warnedsomehow."
"If you'll come off we'll give you breakfast. It should be light enoughto see what the weather's like by the time you had finished," Harrysuggested.
"It can't be done," was the answer. "I've to go on for a doctor andraise a crowd to run those fellows down. I've already stayed longer thanI should."
"Your horse is played out," Frank objected.
"I'll hire another. There's a ranch somewhere ahead. I'll say you havetaken that message."
"We'll do it if it's any way possible," said Harry.
The man turned away without another word and they heard him stumblingthrough the wood beside his horse until the roar of the wind drowned thesound, after which they went back to the canoe. They had no trouble inreaching the sloop, for they were driven down upon her furiously, and onclambering on board they found that Jake had breakfast ready.
It was daylight when they crawled out of the cabin after the meal, butthe sky was hidden by low-flying vapor, and gazing seaward they couldsee only a short stretch of big leader combers which rolled up out ofthe haze crested with livid froth. Jake shook his head doubtfully atHarry.
"You'll have to stop a while," he said. "She wouldn't run for half anhour before that sea. We couldn't start till after dinner if the winddropped right now, but it's falling and we might get away in theafternoon."
The morning dragged by while the boys chafed at the delay, though theyhad no doubt that Jake was right and neither of them felt any keendesire to face the sea that was tumbling in from the Pacific. Still, theroar of the wind steadily diminished and the sloop rode more easily, andat length Jake offered to make the venture after they had had a meal.
They lashed three reefs down before they started, leaving only a smalltriangular strip of mainsail set, but that proved quite enough, andduring the first few minutes Frank felt almost appalled as he glanced atthe great gray combers that heaved themselves up astern. Most of themwere hollow breasted, and their tops curled over, flinging up long wispsof foam and roaring ominously. As a rule they broke, divided, on eitherside of the boat, piling up in a snowy welter high about her shrouds,but now and then one seemed to break all over her and most of her deckwas lost in a furious rush of water. Twice the canoe, which was too bigto stow on deck, charged up and struck her with a resounding crash, andthen broke adrift and disappeared.
By degrees, however, Frank's uneasiness diminished. Somewhat to hisastonishment, the light and buoyant craft stood the buffeting, and bythe time dusk fell the seas were getting smaller. Still, they were bigenough, and the boat appeared to be driving before them at anextraordinary speed. By eight o'clock in the evening they had shaken outone reef, and soon afterward Frank lay down in the cabin, because Jakesaid that he had no intention of entrusting either him or Harry with thehelm, which was on the whole a relief to both of them. To run a smallcraft before a breaking sea in the dark is a very severe test of nerve,and it is, perhaps, worse when the combers still come foaming after herafter the wind has somewhat fallen.
In spite of the violent motion Frank managed to sleep until he wasawakened some time after midnight by a shout from Jake. Crawling out,partly dazed, with his eyes half open, he saw that the sky had clearedand that a crescent moon was shining down. Then, close ahead of them, hesaw the schooner.
She was also runni
ng, for her stern was toward them, though for a momentor two it was hidden by the white top of a sea, and Frank could onlymake out the forward half of her sharply tilted deck. Her bowsprit andtwo torn jibs above it were high in the air, and her black boom-foresailall bunched up, with its gaff, which had swung down, jammed against theforemast shrouds. She carried no after canvas, and the reason becameevident when, as her stern lurched up, Frank saw that her mainmast wasbroken off short. She sank down again while a comber foamed high abouther rail, which was shattered on one quarter where the falling mast hadstruck, and a mass of canvas and tangled gear trailed in the sea beneathit. What struck the boy most, however, was the erratic manner in whichshe was progressing, for her bows swung up to windward every now andthen until all her side was visible and she lumbered off at angle to hercourse and then came lurching back again. She was herringboning, as itis called at sea, in an extraordinary fashion, and she seemed low in thewater.
In the meanwhile the sloop was coming up with her fast and Jake stood upat the tiller to see more clearly.
"They've been in trouble, sure," he said. "I could tell there was nobodyat her helm when I first saw her and that's why I ran up so close. Easethe peak down, one of you; I don't want to run by until we've had a lookat her."
Harry did so, and as they stood watching her the schooner slued rounduntil she was almost beam to wind. The sea streamed down her weatherside, which rose up like a wall, and Frank could see her wheel behindthe low deckhouse jerking to and fro. There was no sign of life anywhereon board her.
"Deserted!" Jake said shortly. "They must have jibed her and smashed hermainmast. She seems a smart vessel. Seems to me she ought to fetch agood many dollars."
The sloop was sailing more slowly now with her peak swung down, keepingpace with the schooner but a little behind her, and the boys gazed hardat Jake. His rugged face looked very thoughtful in the moonlight.
"It's a fair wind to the islands and she'd come up until it was abeamwith the foresail set if it was necessary," he said. "It wouldn't bemuch trouble to sail her in and she could be beached somewhere in smoothwater. Anyhow, I'd like to get on board her."
"If you ran up close alongside when she screws to windward one of uscould jump," Harry suggested eagerly. "There's a raffle of ropes overher quarter."
Jake seemed dubious. "It might be done and Barclay would be uncommonlyglad to get his hands on her, but I can't leave the sloop. Somebody hasto take that message."
"Put us on board," urged Harry. "How far is it to the islands?"
"With this wind and the whole sail on her she ought to fetch them bydaylight." Then Jake seemed to hesitate. "Looks as if there was water inher, but one could wear her round and fetch the land to southward if shewas leaking very bad."
The boys looked at each other and the same impulse seized upon both ofthem. This was an adventure such as they had never dreamed of, and witha fair wind they would only have to keep the vessel running until theypicked up the land. It would not be difficult, for she was under veryeasy sail, and the only hazard would be in the attempt to get on boardher. Then Harry jumped forward and hauled up the peak.
"Run alongside as quick as you can," he said.
Jake put down his helm a little, and the boys stood up on the weatherdeck with tense, set faces as the sloop crept in under the schooner'slea. The latter slued to windward while the spray flew over her, rollinguntil her deck on the side nearest them was level with the sea, and thenfell off again and sluggishly heaved her bows high above the foam. Thisherringboning was the danger, since it would need nerve and skill to getnear her without wrecking the sloop. A blow from the big lurching hullwould probably send her to the bottom.
Frank felt himself quivering all through as they closed with thederelict yard by yard, until when she once more lumbered round towindward Jake put down his helm a little farther. The sloop shot inbeneath the black hull, which broke the sea and partly sheltered her,but as she swept forward amidst a long wash of foam Frank's courageebbed away from him. A great white swell lapped about the wall of wetplanking close in front of him, and the top of it was higher than hishead. It seemed impossible that he could spring out from the lurchingsloop and by any means clamber up. All his senses shrank from thedangerous task, but with a determined effort he braced himself. If Harrymade the attempt he would do it, too, and he clenched his hands and sethis lips as the schooner's side came sinking down.
"Don't jump unless you are sure you can reach her!" shouted Jake.
They were now scarcely a fathom from the trailing wreckage, and theschooner's rail was dipping lower. It seemed just possible to clutch itby a desperate leap, and the next moment Harry launched himself out intothe air. Frank followed, struck the wet planking, and seizing a trailingrope held on by it with his legs in the sea. Then he dragged himself upclear of the water, and Harry, who was kneeling in the opening in thebroken rail, reached down to him.
Frank clutched his hand, and in a few more seconds was almost astonishedto find himself, breathless and dripping, safe upon the schooner's deck.A glance showed him the sloop abreast of her quarter and about a dozenyards away.
"Jake did that mighty smartly," Harry gasped. "I'll get to the wheelwhile you look around her."