Kitabı oku: «Motor Boat Boys Among the Florida Keys; Or, The Struggle for the Leadership», sayfa 8

CHAPTER XVII.
THE SHELTER BACK OF THE KEY

“Oh! what happened?” Nick was heard to call out, in a tremulous voice.

“Get up and hustle! Show a leg here, or you’ll be frozen in your blanket!” George shouted, excitedly, for his canvas tent was wabbling in the wind like a thing possessed.

Of course, those in the other boats had little need to worry, since their hunting cabins protected them in a great measure from the violence of the gale. The neglect of George to have the same sort of contrivance placed on the Wireless, for fear lest it might reduce the great speed of the boat, always cost him dear when night came, or a storm howled about their ears. One has to pay in some way or other for his whistle; and George was a “speed crank” without any doubt.

For a short time it was feared that the tent on the Wireless would actually blow away. Half dressed, the pair aboard hung on with might and main to save the canvas, Nick’s teeth chattering tremendously as he shivered in the rapidly falling temperature.

It certainly did get cold in a hurry, too. Jack would never more smile when he heard old “crackers” tell about the terrors of a Norther. Why, in spite of the protection of the cabin walls, the bitter wind seemed to penetrate to their very marrow.

“Say, Jimmy, this is mighty tough on George and Nick,” he remarked to his boatmate, when the wind had passed its worst stage, but the cold seemed to be on the increase.

“It do be the same; and ’tis myself that feels bad for thim this blissed minute,” the warm-hearted Irish lad answered, as he swung his arms back and forth to induce circulation, and bring a bit more comfort.

“Just as I feared, the growth ashore is too thin to fend off all the wind; and if this keeps up we’ll have the meanest night we ever struck,” Jack continued.

Jimmy knew from the signs that the skipper had an idea. He was used to reading Jack by now.

“What can we be afther doing, I dunno, Jack darlint?” he remarked, or rather shouted; for it was simply impossible to hold a conversation in ordinary tones as long as that howling wind kept shrieking through the mangroves and cypress trees near by.

“Get ashore, and throw up some sort of protection, behind which we can make our fire,” Jack answered, readily enough.

“Hurroo! that’s the ticket! Let’s be afther getting to worrk right away. Sure, annything is betther than howldin’ the fort aboard, and shakin’ enough to loosen ivery timber in the hull of the dandy little Tramp.”

Jimmy was always enthusiastic about everything he went about doing. Consequently, he started ashore immediately, with Jack trailing behind.

When George realized what his chums were doing, he made haste to join them, for he could not but understand that it was mostly on account of the unfortunates aboard the exposed Wireless that the effort to build a fire was attempted.

Many hands make light work; and as there happened to be plenty of wood available near by, a fire was soon blazing. Then Nick, unable to hold aloof any longer, came waddling ashore, to offer his services, when nearly everything had been completed.

Jack had found a means of building a wind shield out of various things, and in the shelter of this they hovered, keeping the fire going at top-notch speed.

That night seemed endless to several in the party. They huddled around, swathed in blankets like Esquimaux, and trying to sleep, though Nick was about the only fellow who managed to accomplish much in that line.

Fortunately it did not rain, which was rather an unusual thing, since these cold storms generally start out with a downpour, until the wind shifts into the northwest, when it clears, and turns bitterly severe.

But morning came at last, when they could see to improve the situation. After Josh had cooked the breakfast – and he had plenty of help on this occasion, since every one wanted to cling to the fire as close as possible – all felt better able to meet the situation.

“Nothing like a full stomach to make things look brighter,” commented Nick, sighing, as he scraped the frying pan for the last remnant of fried hominy.

The wind kept up all that day, so that the pilgrims found themselves actually stormbound. Jack would have made a try for another harbor of refuge, only it was so very rough between their key and the main shore that he doubted the ability of the speed-boat to make the passage without a spill; and surely a bird in the hand was better than two in the bush. They could not be sure about improving on their quarters by going further.

Another thing influenced him to remain where they were. Gradually but surely the wind was going down. The cold remained, but with a dying breeze it did not penetrate so much. It was decided that all of them but the crew of the Wireless should sleep aboard their boats on this night. George and Nick were made fairly comfortable by the fire back of the wind shield.

And as Jack had expected, during the night there came another shift of the wind. Following the natural course of the compass, it was in the northeast when dawn arrived, and would soon work around to the east. For, strange to say, down in this country, during the winter season at least, the southeast wind is the very finest that blows; whereas in most other places it has a reputation for being just the meanest known.

All of them were so dead for sleep that the next night passed very quickly. And when morning came the change in the temperature pleased them greatly.

“Let’s get a move on, fellows,” Jack said, after the customary attention had been given to taking care of the inner man. “We ought to make a big dent in the distance separating us from Meyers today.”

“And by the same token,” piped up Jimmy, eagerly, “I’m afther hearin’ that the fishing is mighty foine around this section.”

“Huh!” grunted Nick, scornfully; “when you beat that record I’ve hung up, just wake me, and let me know. Time enough then to get a hustle on. Just now it’s up to you, Jimmy, to do all the worrying. I’m going to take things easy after this.”

“All right, me bhoy, just do that same, and by the pipers it’s ye that will be hearin’ a cowld, dull thud, which will be that record droppin’ to the earth. Sure, it do be a long lane that has no turnin’; and sooner or later, belave me, ’twill be me day.”

They made a brave start. George was quite elated with the splendid way his engine worked, and frowned whenever Nick made out to mention that his word had been pledged about that change of motive power at Tampa.

Two hours later the inevitable came to pass.

“George has hauled up short, Jack!” Herb called out; for the Comfort was not a great distance behind the Tramp at the time, with the other boat, as usual, ahead.

“Perhaps waiting for us?” suggested Jack; but the smile on his face declared that he entertained different ideas about the stoppage.

“That may be,” replied Herb, skeptically; “but the chances are he’s bucking up against trouble again. Won’t we all be pleased as Punch when he does get a motor that can motor without eternally breaking down? There, Nick’s waving his red bandana, which I take it means they’ve broken down.”

And so it proved. A weak place had developed as usual, so that George would be compelled to spend an hour or two mending the same.

Herb generously offered to give him a tow; but this the proud spirit of George would not brook. It was bad enough having to suffer that ignominy when threatened with a storm, but when the gulf was smooth nothing could induce him to accept.

“You fellows go right along,” George called out; “and I’ll overtake you later.”

But neither Jack nor Herb would think of such a thing. If a heavy wind chanced to come up while the Wireless lay there, positively helpless, she would roll frightfully, and stand a chance of capsizing.

And so they simply hung around until the makeshift repairs had been completed, so that the speed boat could again proceed under her own power.

This lost them so much time that it was no longer possible to think of reaching the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River, and ascending as far as Meyers, that day. So they kept an eye out for a snug harbor, where they might pass the night.

The coast was not so desolate here as below. They had passed the settlement of Naples; and here and there could see where shacks, or more pretentious buildings, told of the presence of fruit or truck growers.

Finally, toward the middle of the afternoon, coming upon just the place that would afford them a good camping ground, the three boats pulled in.

Jack had noticed that Jimmy was showing signs of growing excitement as they proceeded to anchor. The Irish boy had been using the marine glasses with more or less eagerness; and no sooner was the boat made secure than he broke out with:

“Excuse me, if ye plase, Jack darlint, but I’ve a most pressin’ engagement this minute. I do be sayin’ me chanct to get aven with me rival.”

He was even at the time throwing a number of things into the little dinky, among others a section of rope. Nick, while not overhearing what was said, must have noticed the active preparations for a sudden campaign. His round, red face appeared over the side of the Wireless, as Jimmy pushed off and rowed furiously away.

“Now, what in the dickens does all that mean, Jack?” he asked. “Is Jimmy going to make the trip to Meyers in that dinky, or has he got an idea in his head he can bag something that will make me look like thirty cents?”

“I rather guess that’s just the sort of bee he’s got in his bonnet, Nick,” laughed Jack, “and if you look out yonder, where that reef lies in shallow water, with the little waves breaking over it, you’ll see what’s started him going.”

Nick hunted around until he found George’s glasses, which he clapped to his eyes, to burst out with a cry of astonishment and chagrin.

“Say, it must be a big porpoise that’s got stranded out there! My eye! look at it kick up the water, would you? Oh! if Jimmy ever gets a rope around that thing, and tries to ride it ashore, won’t he be in a peck of trouble, though? But when Jimmy sets out to do anything, you just can’t frighten him off; and, honest now, I believe he’s bent on doing that same mad caper!”

CHAPTER XVIII.
JIMMY FORGES TO THE FRONT

None of them could have any doubt about it; for was not the excited Jimmy making toward that same reef with all speed? Determined to wrest the laurels from his rival, if it could possibly be done, he had only too eagerly seized upon this fine chance to get in some strenuous work.

Looking beyond, they could see that the stranded porpoise, if the object out yonder really proved to be such a creature, still threshed the water and strove to break away from its place of captivity.

“What ails the bally thing?” grumbled the anxious Nick. “Why don’t it back off, the same way it came on? That’s the only way it could get into deep water. Did you ever see such a looney, trying to keep on shoving ahead, when all the while it gets in more shallow water?”

“Huh! seems to me there are others!” chuckled Josh; “jewfish, for instance, don’t seem to have one bit more sense. Sometimes they get left on a shallow place, and kick like fun, while waiting for the tide to rise and help ’em off.”

“Ah! let up on that, Josh; ’taint fair to take his side all the time,” complained the fat boy, straining his eyes to follow the movement of his rival, now more than half way out to the reef.

“Well, we always stand up for the under dog; and just now Jimmy’s in that position,” continued Josh.

“Yes,” spoke up George, encouragingly, “and when you get there, Nick, as you may sooner or later, you’ll see how gladly we’ll all give you our sympathy, eh, boys?”

Nick refused to be comforted by the prospect.

“Hey! Jack,” he said, turning to the skipper of the Tramp, who seemed to be bending over his motor, as if about to turn his engine; for a sudden idea had come into his head, “is a porpoise a real fish, now?”

“Whatever makes you ask that?” demanded Herb.

“Oh! I want to know, that’s all,” replied Nick, coolly. “That Jimmy tries to just throw his old net over anything that creeps, swims or walks, and call it a fish. He tried it on us with his blessed old alligator, you remember, fellers; then, when we wouldn’t stand for that, don’t you know how he tried to hook up one of the sea cows they call a manatee, and make us take that? Now he’s after a porpoise; and if he keeps on he’d grab a hippopotamus, and try to bluff us at that. Anything that goes in water answers for Jimmy.”

“Well, if he gets a porpoise, he’s got a fish without any reason to kick over the traces, Nick, and don’t you forget that,” George declared.

“Say, where you going, Jack?” demanded Nick, suspiciously.

“Why, I thought I’d better take a little spin out there, to keep an eye on Jimmy,” replied the other.

“What for? You don’t think of lending him a hand, I hope? Remember, the rules of the game knocks all that sort of thing on the head,” Nick protested, vigorously.

“No danger of my forgetting,” laughed Jack. “But I happened to think how bold Jimmy can be, and wondered if he mightn’t get in trouble somehow.”

“That’s right, Jack,” spoke up George, himself a very rash fellow on occasion; “it’d be just like him to hitch on to that porpoise, and help work him loose. Then we’d see our poor chum going out to sea like a railroad limited express. And Jack, if you’ll allow me, I guess I’ll drop in, and keep you company.”

“Same here,” declared Herb, crawling aboard, as he pulled the Tramp close to the starboard quarter of the Comfort.

“Hey! wait for me, can’t you!” exclaimed Nick, all excitement now. “Who’s got as much interest in this business as me, tell me that? I ought to be along to judge if he takes his fish in fair play, you know.”

“Fair play!” jeered Josh, as he too slid into the other boat after Nick; “well, I like that, now, after the way you lugged that poor old weakened jewfish to camp. Any way Jimmy can grab his game will count; and you might as well make up your mind to it first as last, my boy.”

“Oh! don’t you get to bothering your head about me, Josh Purdue,” Nick went on to say, stoutly; “I’m a true sport, and can take my medicine when I have to, as good as the next one. And I guess I don’t give up easy, do I? But it ain’t time for the shoutin’ yet. Jimmy hasn’t got his porpoise; and it mebbe don’t weigh more’n two hundred and thirty pounds, either.”

Leaving the other two boats anchored in quiet water, Jack headed the Tramp for the reef, where the water was breaking softly over the submerged rocks; with the unfortunate porpoise floundering in a helpless manner, for the tide was almost at its lowest level.

Jimmy had by now arrived on the spot. He must have arranged his plan of campaign as he was rowing frantically out, for he lost no time in getting down to business.

Those who looked saw him push his way up to the reef after his usual bold fashion. If some water came aboard the little dinky, Jimmy gave the circumstance no heed. All he could see was that struggling monster of the deep, and the happy opportunity that had been thrown in his way whereby he might cut his rival out of the lead he had held so long.

For that joyous conclusion Jimmy was ready to take all sorts of chances.

“Look at him, getting right up alongside the kicker!” exclaimed Nick, with an expression of amazement on his rosy face; for he could not help admiring the nerve exhibited by his rival, even though deep down in his heart he hoped the other might fail to land the prize.

“Sure he is!” laughed Josh. “Why, just keep your eye peeled, Nick, old boy, and my word for it, you’ll see our little chum climb right on the back of that bucking broncho of the gulf, put a bridle in his mouth, and ride him home!”

“Oh! rats! you can’t get me to believe that!” Nick flashed back; and yet, despite his brave words, he watched the actions of the Irish lad with deep anxiety, as if believing that no one could tell what wonderful things Jimmy might not attempt.

“Look there, would you!” he exclaimed, a few seconds later; “what under the sun has Jimmy got now!”

“Seems to me like it’s our ax!” declared George, with a harsh laugh.

“Ax!” snorted the indignant Nick; “d’ye mean to tell me he expects to knock that poor porpoise on the head, just like they do steers at the stockyards; and then claim he caught him? Well, I like that, now!”

“It’s all in the game, Nick,” declared Herb, consolingly. “Remember, you didn’t use a fish hook and line to bag your big jewfish; just slung a rope around his gills, and walked away with him through the shallow water near the shore. I reckon even an ax might count, so long as he keeps the fish, and brings him in!”

“Sho!” Nick went on, as though disgusted; “but just think of getting a fish with such a tool, as if you were just chopping a tree!”

“Watch him, now, if you want to see how Jimmy goes at it; perhaps you may be only too glad to do the same thing later on, when you want to climb up and throw him off the first rung of the ladder,” Herb remarked.

“Yes,” said wise Josh, “it makes all the difference in the world what position you hold when condemning practices. What looks bad to you, seems fair and square to Jimmy right now.”

“Wow! what a crack that was!” George exclaimed, as Jimmy brought down the ax on the struggling fish.

“But he hasn’t got him yet, anyway,” muttered Nick, as they saw the water whipped into foam around the little, wabbling dinky boat occupied by Jimmy.

“He nearly took a header that time, let me tell you!” cried Herb.

“But he sticks to his job, all right!” laughed Jack. “See, he’s aiming to get in another crack, and there it goes. Whew! that was a stunner, though!”

“A regular sockdolager!” avowed Josh, who was apparently enjoying the circus first-rate.

“And it looks like it knocked the poor old porpoise out of the running,” commented Herb.

“That’s what it did!” George declared; “and there’s Jimmy trying to get a hitch with his rope around the thing’s tail. He’s gone and done it, as sure as you live! See him stop to wave his hand at us; and he’s got the widest grin on his face you ever saw. Victory comes sweet after having it rubbed in so long.”

“Huh! how d’ye know the bally old porpoise is goin’ to stand for more than my jewfish?” Nick grumbled; though his face began to wear a look that comes with chagrin and defeat; “and even if it does, that don’t wind things up. Ain’t I got just as much chance to bag something bigger before we haul up at New Orleans, tell me that, Josh Purdue?”

“Course you have, Nick, old top,” declared Josh, who hoped to see the rivalry kept up to the very last, since it was affording them all so much fun; “and we’ll back you for the boy who can do big stunts, once you wake up to it; eh, fellers?”

Jimmy was now starting to row back toward where the two other motor boats were at anchor. He made but slow progress of it, towing that now quiet captured porpoise; but the rules of the game prevented the others from giving him any sort of a lift.

Now and then the porpoise would get stranded in the shallow water, and at such times Jimmy was put to his wits’ ends to manage. But by slow degrees he succeeded in accomplishing the object he had in view.

Of course the others did not wait for him, but ran back to where the camp was to be made for the night. Josh was anxious to get ashore, and start a fire; for all of them confessed to being hungry. Nick only made one more remark on the way back, and that gave them an inkling of his ruling passion.

“I say, Jack, do you know whether a porpoise is good to eat?” he asked.

Jack replied that he had never heard of any one eating one, though perhaps the meat might appeal to certain appetites, like those of Esquimaux, or the Indians of Alaska.

“I don’t think we’ll bother about it, however,” Josh remarked, “because we’ve got plenty besides.”

Supper was well on the way when finally Jimmy landed, his beaming face wet with honest perspiration, and filled with the pride that followed his recent exploit.

They all came down to view his capture, and estimate the weight of the porpoise. The opinion seemed to be that, while a small one, it must weigh something close on to two hundred and fifty pounds; but Nick declared he would have to demand the proof before giving in.