CHAPTER XII.--THE STORM.
"Billie, can you put on new tires?" demanded Ben, somewhat anxiously,making a mental determination to learn all about the mechanism of motorcars before he went on another motor trip.
The others stood back rather helplessly. Merry, especially, felt stupidand uncomfortable in having to stand aside and let a girl do all thework.
"Of course, I can," replied Billie, trying to speak cheerfully, as a lowcannonading of thunder rumbled in the distance. "I have done it dozensof times, only it will take time, of course. The tools are under theseat. Hustle up, everybody. Charlie, you get the new tires. Ben, youhelp me."
In a few moments Ben and Billie were kneeling on the ground adjustingthe tire of the first wheel, while Charlie and Merry were engaged inexamining the extra tires, which the motor carried in case of accident,and Percy made himself as useful as possible, unpacking all the wraps,Billie's oilskin coat and cap and the rubber blankets.
"Billie," announced Charlie, "there are only three good tires here. Thefourth has a puncture. It's only a small one, but----"
"I know," interrupted Billie, looking extremely worried. "It was animperfect one. I may be able to patch it."
Then Charlie and Merry held a whispered conference and disappearedaround the bluff.
"What's up?" asked Ben, looking over his shoulder at their retreatingfigures.
But nobody could answer the question. The girls were getting into theirulsters and Percy was arranging the rubber blankets and rugs in the car.
"What a confoundedly low, mean trick of that fellow to do this," he keptsaying to himself, keeping one eye on the black clouds piling up and theother on Billie and Ben. He figured that it would take an hour and ahalf at least to get all four tires on and, he thought, Billie would bea pretty smart girl to do it that quickly. It was half-past threeo'clock.
"What about that ferry," he said to himself.
At last they were pumping up the third tire. It seemed an age to thosewho were idly looking on. The girls sat in a row on the side of theroad, their hands folded patiently in their laps, while Percy paced upand down, watching the top of the bluff uneasily.
"Where are Charlie and Merry?" he said at last, unable to conceal hisanxiety any longer.
"Idiots," exclaimed Nancy. "Haven't we enough to worry us?"
While she spoke there came a blinding flash of lightning and a clap ofthunder seemed to split the heavens in two.
Nancy hid her face on Elinor's shoulder. Billie and Ben kept on workingsteadily. They had reached the fourth tire now and Billie had managed topatch the punctured place just as the first great drops of rain began tofall.
"Where are those boys?" Ben called over his shoulder, not stopping tolook up.
"I'll call them," said Percy, and running to the top of the cliff hebegan to halloo and whistle.
It had grown suddenly so dark that they thought the sun must have set anhour earlier than usual. A cold wind sprang up and whizzed through thepines with a sound that made them shiver.
"Hurrah, it's done!" cried Billie triumphantly, just as a driving wallof rain struck her in the face. "Get in, girls, quick," she shouted, asshe slipped on her oil skins. "Boys, where are you? Crank up, Ben."
Suddenly, in the midst of the din and racket of the storm, came a wildhalloo. Charlie and Merry appeared, running down the road toward themotor car, and six men were following them, shouting and gesticulating.
"Get in as fast as you can," commanded Ben, and the girls will neverforget the terror of that moment as they tumbled into the car.
The booming of the sea in the caves, the cannonading of the thunder, thesharp whistle of the wind in the tops of the trees, and the shouts ofthe men! But in the midst of it all came the kindly, cheering whir ofthe motor engine. Billie could have kissed the faithful "Comet" on hisbroad, good-natured forehead for his loyalty at this moment, when theymost needed him. As Charlie and Merry leaped onto the step, she threw inthe clutch, and they were off just as the first man reached the car,brandishing a long knife and yelling hoarsely.
The boys climbed over into the back, too tired to speak. Merry had ablack eye and Charlie had a bloody nose.
"Billie, the next ferry is Payne's," called Percy. "It's about a milefrom here. Go straight ahead."
And Billie, sticking to her wheel like a good pilot, ducked her head andguided the flying motor along the slippery road.
They seemed hardly to have taken breath before they reached Payne'slanding and found it empty and deserted of every human being who hadever ventured into that lonely place.
"We'll have to try for the next ferry landing then," said Percy,dejectedly. "It's back toward Flag Point."
Without a word, Billie turned the car, and putting on all speed theywhizzed through the rain. At that moment she had only one prayer in herheart: to pilot her friends safely through the storm and get them to theferry landing. There was no sign of any of their pursuers as they passedthe fort. When at last they reached the second summer encampment theybreathed a sigh of relief. The ferry boat was docked at the landing anda man stood under the shed, his hands in his pockets.
Billie drew up at the entrance.
"Captain, will you take us on?" called Ben. He always called boatmen andconductors captain. He found it pleased them, but this man did not replyand still stood with his back turned looking out on the now angry stripof water between Seven League Island and the mainland.
Ben shouted and they all shouted together, but the man was as unmoved asa wooden statue.
"He's deaf," said Billie. "Get out and shake him."
Ben jumped out and shook the man's shoulder, who, with a strangeguttural sound, turned slowly around.
"And dumb," exclaimed Ben, indicating with violent motions first theautomobile and then the ferry-boat.
The deaf mute shook his head and pointed in the direction of Flag Point.They offered him money, tried persuasion, threats, prayers, which hecould not hear, and finally ended by dashing off toward the last ferry.
"It's our only chance," said Ben, "but we'll get over in that if we haveto use force."
Meantime, the island, lashed by the storm, looked bleak and cold, andthey wondered they could ever have admired it at all. Crouched under therubber covers, they shivered with chill, while Billie, on the frontseat, Ben and Percy beside her always on the lookout, with clinchedteeth and hands gripped to the wheel, guided them through the hurricane.It seemed to her they must be riding on the very wings of the wind, andthe speedometer announced fifty miles an hour.
As they dashed through the straggling little street of that forlornvillage of Flag Point, the few indifferent natives who braved thewinters on the island looked out of their windows in wonder. It seemedto them that a streak of red lightning had flashed through the storm.
"Cheer up, all of you, our troubles are over," called Ben. "Theferry-boat's at the landing."
The old boat seemed like a haven of rest when they pulled into theshelter of its alley for wagons and motor cars.
"Captain, why didn't you tell us that this was the only ferry running?"demanded Ben of the wrinkled old man.
"Because I don't never answer questions that ain't first been put tome," replied the laconic boatman.
"Don't scold him," said Billie, wiping streams of water from her face."Any one who is obliged to live in a God-forsaken, wretched place likeSeven League Island couldn't be supposed to have any human interest. Iimagine they all get to be like their own flinty rocks, hard, sharp, andugly."
"Well, bloody nose and blacky eye," put in Percy, "it's about time foryou to give an account of yourselves."
"Yes," said the others, who had been so stunned by the fast ride throughthe storm and the race for the ferry that they had almost forgotten whathad happened.
"When we found," began Merry, "that one of the tires had a puncture,Charlie and I thought we might as well make that low, scoundrelly thiefwho slashed the tires pay back with one of those he had stolen from Mr.Butler. So we chased over t
o Smugglers' Cave, but it took longer than wehad expected, because we had taken the wrong path and had to crawlaround a precipice and jump over crags like two mountain goats."
"Don't forget to tell that your pirate brigantine was anchored out inthe harbor," put in Charlie. "We supposed it was lying up to get out ofthe storm, but we had another think coming----"
"Yes, I guess you will all listen to me, next time," went on Merry."That was the most piratical-looking band of fellows with their knivesand their red handkerchiefs as I ever saw in a story book. Well, we didget to the cave at last and found it as empty as it was before. Charliehad a chisel in his pocket. You know, he is the human tool box, and withthat and a piece of stone we managed to loosen some of the boards. Butthere wasn't a tire or anything else connected with an automobile insidethe box. You'll never guess what the boxes were filled with. Somethingabout as foreign to a motor car, except in sound, when a tire bursts, asa caterpillar."
"You don't mean guns?" demanded Ben.
"We certainly do. Rifles by the dozens packed in all the boxes we hadtime to open."
"We were chumps," interrupted Charlie. "If we had stopped sooner, Inever would have had this bloody nose."
"Well, haven't I got a black eye?" demanded his friend.
"What happened? What happened?" cried Percy impatiently.
"While we were tinkering with the boxes, we heard the sharpest, loudestwhistle I ever heard in my life, and we both lit out and ran. I was infront and just as I got to the mouth of the cave, a one-eyed, one-armedruffian leapt out at me. His one arm was as strong as most men's two,but he couldn't beat Charlie and me together, although he gave me thislittle souvenir and he planted his fist on Charlie's nose. While we werefighting, a boat from the ship with six sailors in it landed below. Theycame tearing up the steps like a lot of bloodhounds, and Charlie and Ihad a run for our lives. Didn't we, midget?"
Charlie acknowledged the fact gravely. There was no denying that the twoboys had been in a very dangerous situation.
"We were ready just in the nick of time, too," said Billie. "If Benhadn't cranked up, we'd have had those men on us in another minute."
It was good to be on land again, even though it wasn't dry land, and theride home, safe and swift, was blissful after the dangers and excitementof that thrilling picnic.
It seemed that Seven League Island must have been the very centre of thehurricane and that West Haven had only been visited with a heavy shower.Miss Campbell, therefore, was spared any great anxiety.
But, oh, the joy of drawing up to the cheerful blaze of the wood fire,while eight youthful adventurers related a somewhat softened version ofthe events of the day! Then the supper that followed, in Miss Campbell'sbig, old-fashioned dining room, with fried chicken and hot biscuits andomelette as light as a feather, and strawberry jam that took the prizeat the county fair!
But best of all was what Merry did at the last, when, notwithstandinghis stiff joints and bandaged eye, he rose from his seat and cried:
"Hip, hip, hurrah! Three cheers for Billie, the pluckiest chauffeur thatever ran a motor car."
And all the rest joined in, even Miss Campbell, who clapped her handsand cried:
"Three cheers for my dear, dear Billie."
Then Billie cried:
"Three cheers for Ben because he never said 'I told you so,' about therain."
That very night, before he went to his own home, Ben called at Mr.Richard Butler's house and told him the story of the bogus automobilesupplies marked with the name of Butler Brothers.
There was a great telegraphing and telephoning by long distance. TheButler Brothers were very excited and angry, just as their niece hadpredicted they would be. Detectives were engaged and other ships warnedto keep a sharp lookout, but nothing was heard of the pirate brigantine.