Four Afloat Part 12

"What's the use, Tommy?" asked Dan. "You'll have to take the watch in a half hour."

But Tom only muttered incoherently as he stumbled below. Dan and Bob followed soon after, and Nelson was left alone. He drew the hatch shut in order to cut off the light which came from below, and took his stand by the wheel. Presently Bob shouted good night, and he answered. Then everything was very silent out there. For awhile he kept his eyes busy on all sides, but such a sharp outlook was quite unnecessary, and so presently he leaned his elbows on the cabin roof and let his thoughts wander. He blamed himself for their predicament, and would be heartily glad when they were once more in port. Six bells sounded below, but he was not sleepy, and so he didn't wake Tom until almost midnight. It was no easy matter even then, but at last Tom stumbled up on deck, promising sleepily to keep a sharp watch, and Nelson divested himself of his shoes and sweater and threw himself onto his bunk. Barry watched him from his nest at Dan's feet and thumped his tail companionably. Sleep didn't come readily, and so he lay for awhile with wide-opened eyes, staring at the dim light above Dan's berth. Presently his thoughts worked around to Tom out there on deck. He recollected how sleepy that youth had been when he went out, and he became uneasy. Of course, with the lights in place, there was really no danger of anyone running them down, but at the same time there was always a possibility of accident, and Nelson felt himself liable for the safety of his companions. Presently he slipped off the berth and crossed the engine room quietly. All was still outside save for the rush of the wind and the slap of the water against the boat. He put his head out, expecting to see Tom huddled up asleep on the seat.

Instead-

"h.e.l.lo!" said Tom. "Is that you, Bob? You're ahead of time."

"N-no," answered Nelson a bit sheepishly, "it's me. I-I wasn't sleepy, and I thought I'd see how you were getting along."

Which wasn't quite truthful, perhaps, but was possibly excusable, since Nelson didn't want to hurt Tom's feelings.

"Oh, I'm getting along all right," was the cheerful reply. "It's rather jolly out here. Do you know what time it is?"

"About half-past twelve."

"All right. Haven't seen a thing yet."

"Well, I guess you won't, Tommy, unless it's a whale. Call Bob at one.

Goodnight!"

"Good night, Captain!" answered Tom.

Relieved, Nelson went back to his berth and fell promptly to sleep. He had a hazy idea once that the watch was being changed, but he didn't really wake up until Dan shook him at a little after five.

"Everything's all right, I guess," said Dan softly, "but it's raining and blowing a good deal, and I thought maybe you'd want to know about it."

Nelson put his feet to the floor and instantly realized that weather conditions had altered. The launch was pitching endwise and sidewise, and through one or two of the ports, which had been left open, the rain was blowing in.

"It's after five," said Dan, "but I thought you fellows might as well sleep awhile longer. We couldn't see a boat anyhow, unless she b.u.mped into us; it's as thick as anything outside."

Nelson drew on his oilskins, closed the ports on the weather side, and followed Dan to the c.o.c.kpit. The wind had pa.s.sed around to the southwest, the sea had risen a good deal, and all sight of land was shut off by the rain squalls. It was what the fisherman would have called a "smoky sou'wester." Nelson went forward and saw that the cable was fast, although it was no easy task to stay on the launch's plunging bow. The water swept over the forward end of the cabin in spray every moment.

"You go and take a nap," said Nelson. "I'll look out for her awhile."

"All right," agreed Dan, "I guess I will. The fact is"-he grinned apologetically-"I'm feeling the motion a bit."

"I should say you were!" answered Nelson. "You're as white as a sheet!

Go on down and see if you can't get to sleep."

"Well-is everything all right?"

"Yes. This is only a squall, I guess. There's no danger, anyway, although it'll be pretty wet for awhile."

Dan went down and Nelson made himself comfortable in the lee of the cabin. It seemed earlier than it really was, but that was due to the clouds and rain squalls. At about six Bob put his head out, with surprise written large on his features.

"What's happened?" he asked.

"Oh, a nice little blow from the sou'west," answered Nelson. "The old _Vagabond_ thinks she's doing a Highland fling."

"How long's it going to last?" asked Bob, with a dubious look about him.

"Not long, I guess. I hope not, anyhow, for we're not likely to find a tow while it keeps up. Wake Tommy and get him to start breakfast, will you? A cup of hot coffee might taste nasty, but I don't think so."

Bob's eyes brightened as he drew back out of the wind to awaken the _chef_ and finish dressing; "hot coffee" surely has a grateful sound on a wet deck at six o'clock in the morning. And it tastes a whole lot nicer than it sounds; everyone would have agreed to that half an hour later, especially Nelson, who drank his coffee from a tin cup and ate his bacon and eggs from the top of the cabin, where the end of the tender sheltered the plate from the rain.

"I'm just as well pleased that we didn't try to go to New York with the others," observed Bob after breakfast. "About this time they must be down around the mouth of Buzzard's Bay, and I'll bet it's blowing up nasty there."

"Well, there was no danger of our getting there," said Nelson.

"Why?"

"Because we had no gasoline, of course."

"That's so; I'd forgotten that. But, say, I'm glad I'm not on the _Sue_ about this time!"

"I wonder which will win," said Dan.

"So do I," said Nelson. "Well, we'll find out if we ever get to land.

Hang this wind, anyway! Last night we might have used the tender and towed a bit, but we couldn't do that now in this sea to save our lives."

"I hope it won't be necessary to try it," said Bob dryly.

And as it proved, it wasn't. For before nine the wind died down, the sun came out strongly, and the sea, while still choppy, calmed considerably.

Nelson set the yachting ensign upside down as a signal of distress, and the Four kept a sharp watch for boats. Little by little the sh.o.r.eline showed clear and sharp to the west, and sails and smoke showed here and there on the water. But it was all of an hour before any craft came near enough to see the _Vagabond's_ dilemma. Then it was an ocean-going tug, which bore down on them from the north with a schooner in tow. The boys waved and used the megaphone, and the tug presently altered her course and ran up to them.

"Broke down?" shouted a man from the door of the pilot house.

"Yes," answered Nelson. "We're out of gasoline. Have you got any?"

"No, we don't use it," laughed the other.

"Can you give us a tow, then?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere we can get more gasoline."

"Well, I'm bound for Sanstable. If you want to make fast to the stern of the schooner back there you can. But I cal'late if you wait awhile you'll find some feller bound toward Boston."

There was a hurried conference. They were tired of lying there, and Sanstable sounded as good as any other place.

"We'll go with you," answered Nelson.

"All right. Get your mud hook up and be ready to throw a line to the schooner as she goes by."

The tug started on slowly, the boys pulled the anchor up, and Nelson found a sixty-foot rope which would serve as a towline. By good luck, the man on the schooner caught it at the first throw, ran aft with it, and made it fast, and in another moment the _Vagabond_ was sliding through the water once more at a seven-mile gait. The crew of the schooner, the _Lizzie and May of Rockport_, laden with big blocks of granite, came aft and smoked their pipes and observed the launch with phlegmatic interest.

"When will you reach Sanstable?" shouted Nelson.

One of the men took his pipe from his mouth, spat over the rail, and c.o.c.ked an eye at the sun.