Kitabı oku: «Motor Boat Boys Among the Florida Keys; Or, The Struggle for the Leadership», sayfa 3

CHAPTER V.
THE MYSTERIOUS POWER BOAT

“Jerusalem! if I owned that engine, George, do you know what I’d do with it?” Nick was heard to say, as the others drew near. “Why, I’d take the first chance, when in touch with a town, and sink her miles deep. Hang it, I’d be willing to contribute half the money I’ve got saved, to help get a new engine for the old shaker.”

“All right, I take you up on that offer, Nick,” George made answer, as quick as a flash; “because, to tell the honest truth, I’m getting weary of the cranky thing myself. But that isn’t going to help us any now. Lend a hand here, and let’s see what we can do to mend matters.”

“Hold on there, fellows,” called out Jack.

“Hello! here’s the commodore arrived,” George sang out, with a nervous little laugh. “Same old story, Jack; and blessed if I can say how long it’ll take to fix her up again, so she’ll do business. Might be ten minutes; and again I’m afraid it may be something serious this time, that will keep me busy hours.”

“Well, we can’t stay out here all that time, with a storm in prospect,” said Jack.

“Thunder! what’s that you say?” broke from the perspiring skipper of the stalled Wireless, as his head again bobbed up into view, and he swept an anxious look in all quarters.

“There’s a bank of clouds poking up over yonder that may mean trouble,” Jack went on to say. “So just get your stoutest cable hitched to a cleat forward, and pass me the other end.”

“What for?” asked George.

“I’m going to tow you, that’s all,” Jack replied.

“Shucks! is that necessary?” demanded the proud George, with a slight frown.

“It sure is, for every furlong we cover now brings us that much nearer a safe harbor; and if those clouds are out for business, we’ll need all we can gain,” Jack went on to insist.

“Then I suppose I’ll just have to,” the other continued; “here, Nick, get out the hawser, and I’ll clamp it on to this cleat. But see here, Jack, after you get started, Nick can keep watch while I work at the engine, can’t he?”

“Nothing for him to do but hold the wheel and keep straight after me. Perhaps when the little Tramp does her prettiest, the two of us can keep going as fast as the Comfort goes; and so nothing will have been lost after all, George.”

“That’s true; only I don’t like it one little bit,” grunted George, as he commenced to fasten one end of the hawser to the stout little cleat – for, to tell the truth, George was a mighty poor loser.

Once Jack had the other end of the line, he made it secure to the stern of his own staunch boat.

“Here goes now; look out!” he warned, as he started forward once more.

The three boats had been wallowing on the heaving seas while power was shut off; but no sooner did they pick up their course again, than this sickening motion gave way to that of progress.

George took off his coat, and got busy. He was considerable of a mechanic, and at least possessed the commendable trait of persistence. Once he had started to do a thing he never rested satisfied until it was accomplished.

“Seems like you’re doing just as well pulling that wreck as we are alone!” called Herb from the Comfort, which was not more than fifty feet away.

George’s head came into view above the gunwale of the speed boat, but somehow this time he was feeling quite too bad to take up cudgels in defense of his craft. Besides, there was truth in calling her a wreck just then. So he ducked down once more and pretended not to have heard the sarcastic allusion.

“Just what I expected when I proposed to tow George,” Jack answered; and then he turned the glasses ahead to a point that seemed to interest him considerably.

“Think that can be the place?” asked Herb, still watching him closely.

“I believe it is, yes, and hope so, too,” came the reply, together with a significant glance upward to where the clouds were beginning to shut out the sun, now on its way down the western sky.

“I see you’re edging in more?” Herb continued.

“That’s right,” answered Jack; “we’d better be as near land as we dare go. It may mean a heap to us sooner or later.”

They went on for some time, with things seeming to be no different, only the clouds kept covering the sky, making the water look dark and forbidding. Indeed, all of the boys were now considerably alarmed. The storm seemed to be getting closer, and their haven had not as yet hove in sight.

“That’s because we’re coming down from the north,” explained Jack, when Nick called out to mention this distressing fact. “You see, the trees all run together, and it’s next to impossible to tell where the mainland ends off and the key begins. But I think I get the dividing line through the glasses. Anyhow, I’m heading straight for it right now.”

Ten minutes later and Josh called out, to say that he could see the opening all right; and the others added their evidence to what he said.

“There’s the new breeze coming, Jack!” called Herb.

“Yes, and the harbor is so close too,” George put in, as he arose from his lowly position. “But I reckon my engine will go now, Jack. If you hear her crackle, please cast off that hawser, will you?”

“Sure!” sang out Jimmy, as he climbed forward, Jack having taken the wheel himself some little time previous, so as to be prepared for any emergency that might arise.

A moment later and there was a merry popping from the mended motor of the Wireless, and immediately Jimmy heard this he cast the rope loose.

“Better make a plunge for it, George; I’ll stand by Herb!” sang out Jack.

“But that wouldn’t look right,” objected George, though doubtless he would feel better satisfied if given a chance to make use of the great speed his boat could show under special conditions, in order to get in a harbor before the blow struck them.

“Rats! get along with you. We understand what your feelings are; but we also know what a cranky boat you’ve got. Hit her up now, and skedaddle!” called Jack.

“Are you saying that as a chum, or as the commodore of the fleet?” asked George.

“As the commodore; and see to it that you obey orders,” answered the other.

Accordingly, George did put his motor to its best speed, and rapidly left them in the lurch. Jack would never desert the steady going old Comfort, and that wide-beamed craft was already working her full limit of nine miles to the hour, so nothing could be done but keep moving, and hope for the best.

The wind increased. Luckily it was dead ahead; and while it might retard their progress to some extent, at the same time it did not kick up half the tremendous sea that would have been the case had it come from the wide ocean at their back, or the port side.

“Do ye be thinking we can make it?” asked Jimmy, who looked a little peaked as he squatted there, watching the tumbling waves, and eying wistfully the shores now close at hand, where houses were to be seen.

“I don’t doubt it for a minute,” answered the resolute skipper of the Tramp, who always refused to be downcast when face to face with danger. “We’re hitting up a pretty fair pace, and if nothing happens to prevent, in ten minutes we’ll begin to get the benefit of the shelter of the land.”

“Anyhow, George has gone through the opening,” declared Jimmy, hopefully.

“Why, yes, there he is beyant, and in calm water; I do believe he’s waiting for us right now. Bully for George! And we ought to be with him soon.”

Although the storm increased, they were by now so well in that it had little terror for them. And presently they ran into calmer waters, where the other boat waited for their coming.

After that it did not take the boys long to pick out a nook where they could be sheltered to a great extent from the blow. And here they anchored, very thankful because of their safe arrival near Miami, after making such a record run outside, where their boats looked like tiny chips on the wide, heaving sea.

All of them were tired, and welcomed the coming of night, when they could partake of supper, and perhaps gather around a camp-fire ashore.

Jack had seen that there were quite a number of other boats of all kinds scattered around the bay. Some were anchored off cottages, while others scudded for the home port before the storm increased to violent proportions. Although the time for West India hurricanes was long since past, any blow along the coast may mean peril to small craft, and they considered it safer to get into shelter before the worst came.

Jack was doing some little work aboard the Tramp when a boat scraped alongside.

“Hello!” he exclaimed, as George climbed aboard; “what brings you over here?”

“Let me have your glasses, won’t you, Jack?” asked the other, mysteriously.

“That sounds mighty like you thought you had made some discovery, George. Say, three to one it’s about that power boat that is a ringer for the Tramp?”

“Go up head, Jack, because you’ve guessed it the first clat out of the box. Good for you! Now I’ll satisfy my mind about one thing, and find out whether they are watching us every time we happen to run together.”

“So that’s the boat anchored away over yonder, is it?” Jack mused. “For all we know it may belong to the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, and be at home right now.”

“Huh! just as I thought,” grunted George.

“What’s that?” demanded the other.

“There’s a feller sitting on deck right now, and I’ll be hanged if he hasn’t got a pair of marine glasses in his hands, leveled straight at us. Didn’t I tell you, Jack, there’s something mysterious about that boat? They are keeping tabs on us right along. Perhaps they’re down here to follow us, though what for I declare if I can guess. There, I guess he saw I had a pair of glasses leveled at him, for he dodged inside the cabin like a flash. Jack, whatever can it mean?”

“You’ve got me guessing, George, and I’ll have to pass,” laughed the other, although admitting to himself that the circumstances were beginning to savor more of mystery than up to now he had been willing to acknowledge.

CHAPTER VI.
NICK TRIES AGAIN

“Jimmy, strike up a bar of ‘Nancy Lee,’ or the ‘Larboard Watch,’ while we’re moving at this snail’s pace along this shallow shore, looking for some nice place to camp.”

“That’s right, Jimmy, just as Jack says; it would sound right to hear music, for this is by a long shot the dreariest place we’ve struck yet. Tune up your lyre, then, or your banjo – I don’t care which – and give us a song.”

Accordingly, when thus pressed by the skipper, not only of his own boat but Herb as well, Jimmy reached in the cabin, and taking hold of his never far distant banjo, commenced to plunk away.

He had a fine mellow voice, and the rest of the boys never tired of hearing him sing. All of them joined in the chorus, though Josh squeaked so that he would have killed the whole melody, only that the volume of sound was so great the discordant vein could not easily be detected.

The three motor boats were almost drifting along among the many keys bordering the extreme southern shore of Florida; and the time was just three days after we saw them reach the vicinity of Miami.

They had passed from Cards Sound into Barnes Sound, and marveled at the wonderful construction of the concrete railway arches, by means of which the East Coast Line expected in the near future to reach far distant Key West, passing from key to key the entire distance, often over wide stretches of open sea.

Cape Sable lay not a great distance ahead. Once the little flotilla had rounded this tip end of the peninsula, they would begin their northward voyage.

The prospect for a camp ashore did not look any too brilliant, and as the afternoon waned, even sanguine Jack began to despair of finding any solid ground. In all directions could be seen the interminable mangrove islands, where swamp abounded, and landing was next to absurd.

When the wash of the sea proved too heavy they had managed to keep some key between, and thus far had come on without any accident. Even George’s eccentric motor had been upon its best behavior, but none of them placed much reliance upon it any longer.

“The tricky thing just seems to know when to lay down and quit,” grumbled Nick, when George mustered up faith enough to actually say a good word for the engine again. “It bides its time, and when we need it most of all, it flunks. I’m going to hold you to your word, George, when we get to Tampa, where there’s a chance to pick up another machine to put in here.”

“Oh, all right!” declared the other, “since you agreed to stand for half the expense, why should I have any kick coming? Only I hope the new engine can walk her along as good as this one, when she feels like it.”

“Hang the speed part!” cried Nick, again rubbing himself as though his muscles were becoming sore in a chronic way; “if only the plagued thing won’t prove a quitter. I hate anything that lies down on you, when you’ve gone and soaked your trust in it, that’s what.”

“I think I see a place ahead that looks fairly promising, mates,” sang out Jack, at this point in the discussion.

“Good for you, Jack; take us to it right away. I’d give a heap just for a chance to get out and just stand, without feeling my foundation heave and wabble under me. Oh! if only I had money enough to coax George to buy a boat that would let a poor feller part his hair on the side, like he used to do.”

A short time later, and they ran in as near the shore as was deemed advisable. Here they anchored, with a friendly key protecting them from any heavy sea that might come up from the south.

“Here’s where the homely little dinky is worth its weight in gold,” remarked Jack, as he prepared to go ashore to look around.

“Yes, only for that we’d have to do the great wading act right along; and it ain’t always convenient to get wet up to your waist,” Herb observed, in a satisfied tone.

Having taken in the prospect ashore, Jack came back again.

“It’s all right, fellows,” he announced. “High ground for half a mile inland, and if the bugs allow, we can even sleep ashore tonight.”

“Hurrah! that’s grand news you’re bringing us, Commodore!” cried Nick, looking happy again. “Now won’t I get the kinks out of my system, though? Last night aboard nearly did for me, and that’s no lie, either.”

“Huh!” George gave vent to one of his odd grunts, adding: “I reckon it was nearly the end of me, for you kicked like a steer, and came within an ace of smothering me the time you rolled over, crowding me to the wall.”

While they were thus joshing each other, all hands were busily engaged getting such things aboard the little tenders as they knew they would need for cooking supper ashore. If it were later on decided to remain there during the night, they could come out again to the anchored motor boats, and secure blankets, mosquito nets, and what other things were required.

As usual, they commenced doing various things, each according to his taste.

George had gone back again to his beloved boat, doubtless to tinker with her eccentric engine, which he always found a puzzle. Nick wandered off along the shore, as though looking for shells. Jimmy was pottering with some of his strong fishing tackle as though he had designs on the scaly denizens of Barnes Sound, and intended putting out several night set lines, if Jack could secure any mullet for bait. Herb was stretching himself on the sand, while Jack and Josh built a little fireplace for cooking, making good use of some blocks of coquina rock, a mixture of shells and what looked like cement, and which underlies much of the eastern shore of Florida.

Presently Jack saw Nick come breathlessly back. He did not say a word to any one, but, putting off in one of the dinkies, went aboard the Wireless. Two minutes later he appeared again, and Jack saw to his surprise that he was trying to hide a piece of stout rope under his coat.

Of course, his curiosity was aroused, but he did not say anything either to Nick or the others. The fat boy, casting a suspicious glance around, and with a wide grin on his face when he looked at Jimmy in particular, again sauntered off. Jack noticed that when he thought he had passed beyond their range of vision, Nick actually started on a run. No wonder he had seemed breathless when he came in, if that was what he had been doing.

“What can the sly fellow be up to?” Jack said to himself. “I believe I’d better keep an eye open, for he’s always so ready to tumble into trouble.”

So as he worked alongside Jimmy, he kept his eyes and ears on the alert. Perhaps fifteen minutes passed. Then those in camp heard a husky call that caused them to look up the shore.

It chanced that there was a clump of mangroves at the nearby point, and around this Nick hove in sight. He seemed to have harnessed himself in some fashion with the rope, and was tugging with might and main.

“Now, what under the sun can he be doing?” ejaculated the surprised Herb.

“He’s got something along, and seems to be dragging it through the shallow water!” Josh declared.

“And look at it splash, would you?” Herb went on. “Say, d’ye suppose, now, Nick’s gone and caught a turtle, one of those big loggerheads they were telling us about?”

“Turtle nothing!” laughed Jack; “that’s a fish!”

“A fish!” cried Jimmy, turning pale; “do ye mane to till me he’s gone and caught a whale?”

Evidently Jimmy feared for his laurels; he had held the position of top-notch in the competition almost from the start, and was beginning to believe that he might never be ousted by the slow-moving fat boy. And hence the sight of Nick deliberately dragging that immense bulk behind him gave Jimmy a bad sensation.

As the puffing Nick arrived alongside, it was seen that he had indeed been dragging a tremendous fish after him. The rope was twisted under its gills in such a way that it could not come loose.

“What in the dickens is it?” demanded Herb.

“Blest if I know; but it’s a fish, and that’s enough for me!” announced the red-faced captor.

“Be afther listening to him, now, bhoys,” observed Jimmy, looking dismayed; “by the pipers if he doesn’t mane to claim he caught it!”

“Of course, I do!” exclaimed Nick, instantly; “and I’d like to know how you’re going to knock me out of this, like you did that shark. Here I go fastening on to all sorts of big game, and you always want to question my right.”

“What kind of a fish is it, Jack?” called George, who was coming ashore to take a closer look at the squirming victim.

“It looks squatty, like a big sea bass, the kind we caught several times along the coast. I rather think it’s what they call a jewfish down here,” Jack replied, after looking the prisoner over.

“Good to eat?” asked Nick, hungrily.

“Oh, yes; they say so; and we’ll take a chunk out of him to try,” was Jack’s answer. “Where did you get him, Nick?”

“Up the shore a little ways. Do I have to tell just how, Jack?”

“See him try to back out,” jeered the envious Jimmy, as his eyes took in the enormous bulk of the prize, and he mentally figured that it must weigh all of two hundred pounds, against which his bass of fifteen must look like a baby.

“Yes, we want to know everything, so begin,” declared George.

“Well, when I was walking along, I discovered this silly thing splashing like Sam Hill close to the shore. He must have been left by the tide, and was half stranded between two bunches of coquina rock. I had a sudden wild idea, and hurried back here to get a rope.”

“So that’s why you wanted it, was it?” cried George. “I was a little afraid you might be thinking of hanging yourself; but then I expected the rope would break if you tried that. But go on, Nick.”

“Oh, there ain’t much to tell, for I just harnessed the old chap up like you see, worked him loose from the rocky wedge, and dragged him to camp. But I hope now, after all my hard work, you ain’t going to say I didn’t catch that fish. Anyway, our rules read so long as a feller gets the game by fair means, and without help. Here he is, and you can rig up some sort of scales to weigh him. What’s a few pounds, more or less, among friends? But what do you say, Jack, Herb, Josh and George?”

“Why, according to the letter of the rules, you win,” Jack remarked.

“That’s correct,” ventured Josh.

“He lost one whopper because he had to have help; but that can’t be said about this prize. Nick, you certainly take the cake,” Herb chuckled.

“I agree with the rest; he deserves all he gets,” said George.

Jimmy shrugged his shoulders, and made a grimace, as he observed:

“Sure, I do belave the lot of ye are set agin me; but, honest to Injun, in me own hearrt I do be thinkin’ the same. Which laves me a bad second in the race. But I do not despair of batin’ him out yet. Just give me toime, bhoys, give me toime to get me wits together.”

Jack busied himself rigging up a crude scales, whereby two of them could stand out against the big fish; and in this way it was finally estimated that Nick’s latest capture weighed about two hundred and thirty pounds.

The fat boy was in high glee over his adventure, and burst out into frequent boasts. He took especial pains to let Jimmy know that the one who laughed last always laughed hardest.

“Just wait, and say how that same turns out,” declared the Irish lad, seemingly only the more determined to exceed Nick’s big score.

So the afternoon passed away, and it came on toward evening.

“Hello! how’s this?” remarked Jack, who had been out with George for some time, taking a look at his motor, and consulting as to the wisdom of making a radical change when they reached the city of Tampa; “it’s coming on night, and I don’t see any signs of supper in sight. And by the way, where is Josh; I don’t happen to set eyes on him around?”

The others stared at each other.

“Why, I remember now, that he asked me for the loan of my gun some little while back, and said he’d like to take a stroll down the beach, thinking there might be a bunch of those nice little shore birds on some mud flat, that he could bring back with him,” Herb said, looking perplexed.

“How long ago was that?” Jack demanded.

“I guess all of an hour; just after you went out when George called.”

“Has anybody heard a shot?” asked Jack.

But nobody had; and, as the night came on, the five boys began to realize that something must surely have happened to their lengthy chum.