"It isn't that--no indeed. I meant Amy--for bringing up such a topic asalligators at this moment, when we can't move. And the ugly creaturesalways come out on a sand bar to sun themselves; don't they?"
"Not on this sand bar," asserted Betty. "It's under water. If it hadbeen out I should have seen it."
"I'm sure I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Grace," said Amyhumbly, "but really I did not think it was safe for Mollie to put herhand in the water."
"Of course it wasn't, you dear!" soothed Mollie, patting Amy softly onthe shoulder. "I wasn't thinking of what I was doing."
"And I didn't mean anything, either," added Grace, thinking that perhapsshe and Mollie had not treated Amy with just the deference due ahostess, for Amy did figure in that role.
"Oh, that's all right," said Amy with a smile that seemed always full ofwarm fellowship and feeling. "I know just how you feel."
"Well, I feel wretched--there's no denying that," spoke Betty with asigh. "To think that I should run you girls on a sand bar, almost on ourfirst trip. Isn't it horrid?"
"Well, we'll forgive her if she'll run us off again; won't we, girls?"asked Grace, searching among the cushions.
"Here it is," said Amy with another of her calm smiles, as she producedthe box of candy for which Grace was evidently searching.
"Thanks. Well, Betty, are you going to get forgiven?"
"Which means am I going to get you off this bar? Well, I'm going to domy best. Wait until I take a look at the engine."
"What's the matter with it?" asked Mollie quickly, a new cause for alarmdawning in her mind.
"Nothing, I hope," replied Betty. "But we ran on the bar so suddenlythat it may be strained from its base."
"Is it a baseball engine?" asked Grace languidly. She seemed to haverecovered her composure now. Whether it was the fact of her chocolatesbeing safe, or that there was no immediate danger of sinking, or that noalligators were in sight, was not made manifest, but she certainlyseemed all right again.
"It's enough of a ball game to have a base, and to be obliged to holdit," said Betty with a smile, as she bent over the machinery, testingthe bolts and nuts that held the motor to the bottom of the boat.
"I guess it's all right," she added with a sigh of relief. "Now to seeif it will operate. But first I think we'd better see if we can pushourselves off with the oars and boat hook," for Betty, knowing that thebest of motors may not "mote" at times, carried a pair of long sweeps bywhich the _Gem_ could laboriously be propelled in case of a break-down.There was also a long hooked pole, for landing purposes.
"Mollie, you take one of the oars, and I'll use the other," directedBetty, for she realized that she and the French girl were stronger thanthe others. "We'll let Grace and Amy use the hook. Then if we all pushtogether we may get off without further trouble. If that won't answer,we'll try reversing the engine." The machinery had been shut down byBetty immediately following the sudden stop on the bar.
About the stranded craft swirled the muddy river. Bits ofdriftwood--logs and sticks--floated down, and sometimes there was seenwhat looked to be the long, knobby nose of an alligator, but the girlswere not sure enough of this, and, truth to tell, they much preferred tothink of the objects as black logs, or bits of wood. It was much morecomforting.
"Are you all ready?" asked the Little Captain as she took her place onone side, well up in the bow, Mollie taking a similar position on theother side. Each held one of the long oars.
"All ready," answered Amy, who had taken up the boat hook.
"Wait a minute," begged Grace, looking for something on which to cleanseher hands of the brown smudge of chocolate. "This candy is so sticky!"
"There's the whole river to wash in," said Mollie. "'Water, watereverywhere,' and not any solid enough to go ashore on," she concludedwith a laugh.
"I'll never dip my hands in this water--not until I can see bottom,"declared Grace, finally selecting a bit of rag that Betty used to polishthe brass work of the engine.
"As if it would hurt to take hold of the boat hook with chocolatefingers," spoke Mollie a bit sharply. "At any rate one could wash thepole without fear if its being nipped by an alligator."
"Don't be silly," directed Grace with flashing eyes.
"Well, don't eat so much candy then."
"Come, girls, if we're going to get off the bar it's time we tried it,"suggested Betty with a smile. She did not want the two tempers, thatseemed often on the verge of striking fire, one from the other, tokindle now. There was enough of other trouble, she reasoned.
The oars and pole were thrust into the water ahead of the boat. Bottomwas found within a few inches, showing how shallow was the stream overthe bar. The prow of the _Gem_ seemed to have buried itself deeply init.
They pushed and pushed and pushed again, but the only noticeable effectwas the bending of the slender pole of the boathook on which Grace andAmy were shoving with all their strength. The motor boat did not budge.
"Once more!" cried Betty. "I think it moved a little."
"I wish--I could--think so!" panted Mollie, as she shifted the positionof her oar.
Again they all bent to the task, and Amy and Grace combining theirstrength on the pole caused it to bend more than ever.
"Stop!" cried Betty, in some alarm. "It will break, and I don't knowwhere I can get another. We'd better try reversing the engine."
She sat down in the cushioned cockpit, an example followed by theothers. They were breathing rather hard, and presently Betty went intothe cabin and came out with some iced orangeade that had been put aboardin a vacuum bottle to retain its coolness.
"Here," she invited, "let's refresh ourselves a bit. I can see that weare going to have trouble."
"Trouble?" queried Amy, looking at her chums.
"Yes. We aren't going to get off as easily as I thought."
"Do you think we'll ever get off?" asked Grace.
"Of course we will," declared Betty promptly.
"I'll never wade or swim ashore--not with the river full of such nastyalligators!" announced Grace.
"Wait until you're asked," cried Mollie. "I'm sure we can get off whenthe motor is reversed."
"The propeller seems to be in deep water," spoke Betty, taking anobservation over the stern. "Come back here, girls, and sit down."
"It's more comfortable here," objected Grace, languidly. "In fact, ifit were not for the fact of being stranded I should like it here." Thecockpit was covered by an awning which kept off the hot rays of the sun,and the cushions, as Grace said, were very comfortable.
"But I want to get all the weight possible in the stern," Bettyinsisted. "That will raise the bow."
Understanding what was required of them, the girls moved aft, andperched on the flat, broad deck, while Betty went to start the motor andslip in the reverse clutch.
The engine seemed a bit averse to starting at first, and, for a fewseconds, Betty feared that it had suffered some damage. But suddenly itbegan to hum and throb, gaining in momentum quickly, as it was runningfree. Betty slowed it down at the throttle, and then, looking aft to seethat all was clear, she slipped in the clutch that reversed thepropeller.
There was a smother of foam under the stern of the _Gem_, which trembledand throbbed with the vibration. Betty turned on more power, untilfinally the maximum, under the circumstances, was reached.
"Are we moving?" she called, anxiously, to her chums.
"Not an inch!" answered Mollie, leaning over to look at the surface ofthe water. "Not an inch."
"We'll try it a little longer," said Betty. "Sometimes it takes a littlewhile to pull loose from the sand."
"Suppose some of us go up in the bow and push?" suggested Mollie. "Thatmay help some."
"Perhaps; and yet I want to keep the bow as light as possible, so itwon't settle down any more in the sand."
"I'll go," volunteered Mollie. "One can't make much difference. And I amnot so very heavy."
"All right," agreed Betty.
With one of the
oars Mollie pushed hard down into the holding sand,while Betty kept the motor going at full speed, reversed.
But the _Gem_ seemed too fond of her new location to quit it speedily,and the girls, looking anxiously over the side, could see no change intheir position.
"It doesn't seem to do any good," wailed Betty, hopelessly, as sheslowed down the engine. The water about the craft was very muddy andthick now, caused by the propeller stirring up the bottom of the river.
"I guess we'll have to wade, or swim, ashore," said Amy, in what shemeant to be a cheerful voice.
"Never!" cried Grace. "I'll stay here until someone comes for us. Say,we haven't called for help!" she exclaimed, with sudden thought. "We'renot so far from either shore but what we could make ourselves heard, Ithink. Let's give a good call!"
"That's so," agreed Mollie. "I never thought of that."
The girls looked across to the distant shores. True enough, the bankswere not far off--too far to wade or swim, perhaps, but as the day wascalm and still their voices might possibly carry.
"There doesn't seem to be much of a population on either side," observedBetty, grimly. "Still there may be houses back from the shore, hidden bythe trees. Now, all together."
They raised their fresh young voices in a combined call that certainlymust have carried to both shores. Then they waited, but nothinghappened. Again they called, and again--several times.
"I'll give the first man who comes for us in a boat all the chocolates Ihave left," bribed Grace. No one appeared to accept.
Again they called, after a little rest, and a sipping of what remainedof the orangeade. But to no purpose did their appeals for aid floatacross across the stretch of muddy water.
Once more Betty tried reversing the engine, and again the girls pushedwith the oars and pole. The _Gem_ remained fast on the sandy bar.
"I wonder how it would do if I got out and dug around the bow?"suggested Betty. "The water is shallow on the bar--hardly over myankles."
"Don't you do it!" cried Grace. "Those horrid----"
"Hark!" cried Mollie, with upraised hand, "I hear something."
Through the stillness they could all note the regular staccato puffingof the exhaust of a gasoline motor. It drew nearer.
"It's a boat coming!" cried Betty.
A moment later a motor craft swung into view around an upper bend,coming swiftly down the river. But at the sight of it the girls gave agasp, for it was filled with roughly dressed colored men, while in thestern sat a white man of even more villainous appearance than theblacks. And the boat was headed straight for the stranded _Gem_. Helpwas coming indeed, but it was of doubtful quality.
CHAPTER XI
INTO THE INTERIOR
"Oh, dear!" cried Grace, as she shrank back against Betty. "Oh, dear."
"Those--those men," breathed Amy, who also seemed to be looking aboutfor some sort of physical support. "See, Betty!"
They both seemed to depend on the "Little Captain" in this emergency. Asfor Mollie, her dark eyes flashed, and she looked at Betty with a nod ofencouragement. Whatever happened, these two would stand together, at anyrate.
"Don't be silly!" exclaimed Betty, stilling the wild beating of her ownheart by the reflection that she must be brave for the sake of others.
"But they are coming right toward us!" gasped Grace, making a move asthough to hide in the cabin.
"Of course they are!" exclaimed Mollie, quickly. "They are going to helpus; aren't they, Betty?"
"I'm sure I hope so," was the low-voiced answer. "One thing, girls,speak very carefully. Sound carries very distinctly over water, youknow."
"They are coming toward us," added Amy, shrinking closer to Betty. Therewas no doubt of that. The eyes of all in the approaching motor boat,which was a powerful craft, were fixed on the girls in the _Gem_, and itwas a strange sight to see the eyes of the colored men, with so much ofthe white showing in contrast to their dark faces, staring fixedly atour friends. Grace caught herself in a half-hysterical laugh.
"They looked just like those queer china dolls," she explainedafterward.
The white man steering the boat was almost as dark in complexion as werehis companions, but at least he was white--the girls were sure of that.
"I guess they know we have run on a sand bar," Betty explained, in ascalm a voice as she could bring to her need. "They are avoiding itthemselves."
As she spoke the other boat made a wide sweep and then, having gone downpast the _Gem_, it again swept in on a curve, now being headed upstream.
"Stuck?" called the white steersman, and his voice was not unpleasant,though a bit domineering, Betty thought.
"But perhaps this is because he is used to giving orders," shereflected.
"Yes; we are on a sand bar, I'm afraid," she answered, and smiled.
"Look natural!" she commanded to the others a moment later, her voicenot reaching the men in the other craft, she felt sure, for the clutchof the relief boat had been thrown out and the engine was racing, makingconsiderable noise. "Look as though we expected this," Betty commanded."There's nothing to fear. We are not far from home."
"Lots of folks get stuck on that bar," went on the man, who was bringinghis boat into a position favorable for giving aid to the _Gem_. "Itought to be buoyed, or marked in some way. You're strangers around here,I take it," he went on.
"Yes, from Mr. Stonington's orange grove," said Betty, simply. "If youwill kindly pull us off this bar we will gladly pay you for yourtrouble."
Was it fancy, or did Betty detect fierce and eager gleams in the eyes ofthe colored men?
"Oh, shucks!" exclaimed the steersman, quickly. "I've pulled lots ofbigger boats than yours off that bar. And not for pay, neither. Can youcatch a rope?"
"Oh, yes," said Mollie, quickly, determined to second Betty's efforts toappear at ease. "We've done considerable cruising."
"That's good. Well, you want to know this river before you do much more.It's treacherous. Sam, throw that rope while I put us up a littlecloser," he commanded.
"Yes, boss," was the reply of a big colored man in the bow.
Both Mollie and Betty grasped for the rope as it came uncoiling towardthem.
"That's good," complimented the man. "Now can you make it fast? Have youa ring-bolt there?"
"No, but there's a deck-cleat," spoke Betty.
"Just the same. Now, then, I'm going to turn about and try to haul youoff, pointing my bow down stream. This boat works better on the directclutch than in reverse. And when I start to pull, you'd better reverseyour motor. Can you do it?"
"Oh, yes," answered Betty.
"Good. You do know something about boats. So you're from the orangegrove; eh? I heard the new owner had come on. Need any men down there?"and he seemed quite business-like.
"I--I don't know," faltered Betty, looking at Amy. "Mr. Stoningtonhasn't told us anything about that. This is his niece," and she noddedat Amy.
"Oh, is that so! Well, if he should happen to need any pickers, I cansupply him. Hank Belton is my name. I supply laborers for lots of orangegrowers and others. I'm the biggest dealer in labor around here; ain'tI, boys?" and he appealed to the colored men.
"Dat's what you am, boss!" exclaimed one, with a chuckle.
"And I always treats my help right, no matter what happens after theyhire out; don't I, boys?"
"Suah!" came in a chorus.
"So just remind Mr. Stonington about me," the man went on with what heevidently meant for a friendly smile, but which made the girls shudder."My place is at Penbrook--about ten miles up the river. Now, then, haveyou that rope fast?"
"Yes," answered Betty.
"Get ready then--I'm going to pull you. And start your motor as soon asthe tow rope gets taut!"
"All right," answered Betty in business-like tones.
The tow rope straightened out as the other motor boat started downstream. Betty watched, and, when she thought the proper time had come,she started her motor on the reverse.
For a moment it se
emed that, even with this, the _Gem_ would not comeoff the bar, and the girls looked anxiously over the side to detect thefirst motion.
Then there came a quiver to the stranded boat, and a shout from thecolored men:
"She's movin', boss!"
"Turn on a little more gas!" cried the steersman to Betty. "I think wehave her now!"
She speeded up her motor, and in another instant the _Gem_ came free sosuddenly that there was danger of a collision.
"Shut down!" called Hank Belton quickly. "You're all right now."
Betty turned off the power, and Mollie cast loose the tow rope.
"Thank you very much," she called to the man.
"I wish you would let us pay you," added Betty.
"Nary a pay, Miss," was his answer. "I'm glad I could help you. Justgive my message to Mr. Stonington, and I'll be obliged to you. Betterback down a bit before you turn. That bar sticks out a ways. It's awonder you didn't hit it before. You can't draw much."
"We don't!" answered Betty.
The other boat was proceeding down stream now, the colored men lookingback with their rolling eyes. Betty started her engine on the reverseagain, and then, feeling sure that they were beyond the bar, she turnedand steered her craft back toward the orange grove. The picnic plan wasgiven up now as it was getting late and the girls were tired.
"Thank goodness that's over!" exclaimed Grace, with a sigh of relief."Oh, I was so frightened!"