Kitabı oku: «The Rushton Boys at Treasure Cove: or, The Missing Chest of Gold», sayfa 9
CHAPTER XXII
ANGRY WATERS
As the five boys entered the lighthouse, Teddy happened to glance at the barometer that was fastened to the wall near the door.
“Say, fellows!” he exclaimed, “the glass is certainly mighty low this evening. Looks as though there might be some weather coming.”
“Let’s take a peep,” responded Lester carelessly. “We’re not due for any bad weather yet awhile, and I don’t think–Whew! but it is low, isn’t it?” he exclaimed as he examined the dial of the instrument. “There’s something on the way, that’s sure. I don’t remember the barometer often getting quite as low as that.”
“Oh, well, let it come!” exclaimed Fred. “What do we care? We won’t be out in the Ariel this time, and I guess it would take some storm to wash this old lighthouse away.”
“Yes,” assented Lester. “I guess no storm that ever blew or ever will blow can do us much damage. It is built on a ledge of solid bed rock, and it would take an earthquake to shake it loose. We’ll be snug and safe enough, no matter how hard it blows.”
“In that case, bring on your show,” grinned Teddy. “I’ve always wanted to see a first-class, bang-up storm, so you can’t pile on the scenic effects too strong. Let’s have plenty of wind and waves and all the rest of the fixings. Do a good job, while you’re about it, Lester.”
“Judging from the looks of that barometer, I won’t have to do a blessed thing,” replied Lester in the same tone of banter. “My stage manager, old Father Neptune, is going to be right on the job, and when he gets going I don’t feel called on to interfere. I’ve seen a few of his performances and I must confess that I haven’t seen much room for improvement.
“Except,” he went on in a graver tone, “that if I had my way, I’d leave some of the ships out of the production. After you’ve once seen some big craft go to pieces on the shoals, you rather lose your liking for the entertainment.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s so,” acquiesced Teddy, his usually high spirits sobered for a moment by having this view of the case presented to him. “I hadn’t thought of that part of it.”
“Well,” observed Fred, “if there’s going to be a storm, as seems pretty likely now, we’ll hope that nothing of the kind occurs. After that stormy time we had on the Ariel, I can imagine pretty well what it must feel like to be shipwrecked. When we were headed for those rocks, I expected to be swimming for dear life in about two minutes.”
“It must have been rather bad, I suppose,” said Lester with a smile. “It wasn’t so bad for me, because I had done the stunt before and was sure I could do it again.
“But this is no time for talking,” he added. “Either I’ve got to get something to eat pretty soon or else quietly give up the ghost. I’m as hungry as a bear in spring time, and I’m willing to bet something that you fellows feel the same way.”
“You win,” admitted Fred. “But luckily for us it’s near dinner time so we still have a chance to live awhile.”
“Let’s hurry and clean up then before dad calls us to the table.”
As Lester stopped speaking, a gust of wind tore past the lighthouse with a mournful wail. The sound died down for a few seconds and then rose again in a dismal, long-drawn-out note that caused the boys to give an involuntary shudder.
“That’s the beginning,” declared Lester. “It will keep getting worse and worse, and after a while we’ll hardly be able to hear each other speak. We’re in for a real blow this time I think.”
“Let’s go up into the light room and see what it looks like outside,” suggested Fred. “It’s getting dark fast and we’ll not be able to see anything before long.”
“All right, come ahead,” agreed Lester.
He headed the group up the spiral stairs that led to the lamp room.
An early dusk had fallen over the heaving ocean, yet it was not so dark but that they could see that the seas were rising rapidly. Here and there the big waves were capped with white crests as they raced away before the spur of the merciless wind. Already they were breaking against the rocks on which the lighthouse stood with a heavy roar and a force that caused the building, stout as it was, to tremble.
“It sure is working up fast, isn’t it?” asked Teddy in a subdued voice. “I’d hate to be out in it even now. And I suppose it hasn’t really begun to get bad yet.”
“You’re right, it hasn’t,” assented Lester grimly. “But now while we are up here, I’d better light the lamps. Then I can go down and eat with an easy conscience.”
Accordingly, he lit the wicks of the great lamps and, after assuring himself that everything was in perfect order, he and the other boys descended to the dining room. There they found everything in readiness and made one of the hearty and satisfactory meals that the lighthouse larder never failed to afford.
As they ate, they could feel the building shake to the furious blasts that smote against it, and Mr. Lee shook his head gravely.
“It will be a wild night on the ocean, I’m thinking,” he remarked, “and we can thank our lucky stars that we’re all in a snug shelter and well out of harm’s way. I feel sorry for those who have to be abroad on the water to-night.”
“So do I,” echoed Fred. “Just listen to that wind roar, will you? It seems as though a million demons were yelling at once.”
“And the ocean’s a good second,” chimed in Teddy. “Wow!” he cried, as a giant breaker thundered down on the reef, “that must have been the daddy of them all, I guess. Let’s go up to the lookout room as soon as we’re through and watch the storm.”
The other boys were quite as eager as Teddy, and when they had finished their meal they went up the stairs to what might be called the observation room. This was situated just below the room in which the lamps were placed, and had windows of thick glass facing the sea. A door led out from it on to a balcony that ran completely around the structure. This door also faced the ocean, and Teddy, always enterprising, thought that he would like to go out on the balcony to feel the force of the wind.
He attempted to push the door open, but without success. He tried again, with the same result.
“Guess the old thing must be locked,” he remarked, “but I don’t see the key anywhere. Have you got it with you, Lester?”
“No,” replied Lester, who had been watching Teddy’s ineffectual efforts with a smile, “but that door isn’t locked. The reason you couldn’t open it was because the wind was blowing so fiercely against it. I doubt if the four of us put together could do it.”
“It’s no wonder that I had trouble then. But never mind. The wind can’t keep me from looking out, anyway.”
He shaded his eyes with his hands and peered through the thick plate glass windows. The others followed his example, and saw a sight that they never forgot.
The wind had piled the waves up higher and higher, until they looked like an endless succession of undulating, constantly advancing hills and valleys. From the ragged crests the spray was torn and blown in solid sheets before the raging wind so that at times it was impossible to see the heaving waters beneath. As the breakers came up against the lighthouse ledge, their tops would curve over and come crashing down with mighty blows that it seemed must pulverize the solid granite. The rebounding spray was snatched up by the gale and hurled against the lighthouse, as though the elements were furious at this one obstacle that prevented them from wreaking their full rage on some unfortunate ship and were resolved to sweep it from their path once and for all.
The boys gazed spellbound at the awe-inspiring spectacle, and for a time none of them uttered a word. Lester was the first to break the long silence.
“I’ve never seen anything better–or worse–than this,” he said. “I guess the barometer knew what it was doing to-day.”
“It surely is a tremendous thing to watch,” assented Fred, and again applied himself to the window, where the others kept their faces glued, too fascinated with the elemental turmoil to think of anything else.
They tore themselves away at last and went up into the lamp room where Mr. Lee was on duty.
He had just finished trimming the wicks when the boys entered.
“What do you think of this for a storm?” he quizzed. “Is it blowing hard enough to suit you?”
“It’s tremendous!” ejaculated Ross. “I never knew that wind could blow so hard or waves get so big. It’s something to remember for a lifetime.”
Mr. Lee smiled at his earnestness and nodded his head.
“You may well say so,” he observed. “Of course, I’ve seen worse winds in the tropics, when they developed into hurricanes or typhoons. But for this coast, it doesn’t often blow harder. There’s more than one fine ship will lay her bones down on some reef or beach this night.”
While Mr. Lee was speaking, the boys had noticed several dull blows against the outside lens of the light, and Teddy took the first opportunity to inquire the cause.
“That’s caused by sea-gulls and other water birds dashing themselves against the light,” explained Lester. “They’re driven by the wind, and are so confused and terrified that I don’t suppose they know what they’re doing. Or perhaps the bright light has an attraction for them. At any rate, they always do it in a big storm, and in large numbers too. Why, in the morning we can go out and find hundreds of dead birds where they’ve dropped at the base of the tower.”
“What a shame!” exclaimed Teddy, who always had a tender place in his heart for dumb creatures. “I suppose they don’t see the glass at all, and think they can keep right on going.”
“That’s about the way of it, I guess,” affirmed Mr. Lee. “They come against the glass with such force sometimes that I’m almost afraid they’ll break it. It’s too bad, but there’s no help for it yet, though men are at work trying to find some device to prevent it.”
“How long do you think the storm will last?” inquired Fred.
“Chances are that it’ll last out all to-morrow,” answered their host, “though it’s blowing so hard that it may blow itself out before that. There’s no telling.”
“We’ll have a good chance to mend up our fishing tackle then,” remarked Fred, “because it doesn’t look as though there’d be much chance doing anything outdoors.”
“If you find time hanging heavy on your hands,” observed Mr. Lee with a sly twinkle in his eye, “you might get busy and clean out the lamps. They’re about due for a good scouring, and it might help you to pass away a long day indoors.”
“That’s certainly a great idea,” said Lester reflectively, “but there’s nothing in it for me. I’ve done it before and there’s no novelty in it. But I’m sure that Teddy and Fred would enjoy it immensely.”
“Nothing doing,” replied Teddy hastily. “Fred and I aren’t going to come to see you, Lester, and then butt in on all your simple pleasures. You just go ahead and enjoy yourself cleaning out the lamps, just as though we weren’t around. We’ll manage to plug along some way in the meantime.”
They all laughed at this sally and shortly afterwards the boys took leave of Mr. Lee and returned to the observation room. The wind roared and the ocean boomed on the rocks with undiminished force, and they spent the rest of the evening gazing out through the streaming windows and wondering at the mighty spectacle spread out before them.
At last Lester, to whom the fury of a storm was a more common thing than to his companions, proposed that they go to bed, and they reluctantly tore themselves away. The last thing the lads heard as they sank into dreamless slumber was the crash of tumbling waves and the maddened shrieks of the wind as it hurtled past the lighthouse.
CHAPTER XXIII
AN UNEXPECTED WINDFALL
Dawn broke the following day without any sign of the storm’s abating, and the boys were forced to keep close within doors. Despite their forced imprisonment, time did not hang heavily, and they found plenty with which to occupy their hands and minds.
Of course, all about the lighthouse was new to Ross, and he spent a good many hours exploring its delightful mysteries under the guidance of Lester and Mr. Lee himself, who had taken an instant liking to this new addition to his household and had given him a most cordial welcome, not only on his own account, but on account of his romantic story, which had appealed strongly to the old man’s fancy and sympathy.
Bill busied himself with overhauling and getting into first-class shape his fishing paraphernalia, and discharged a neglected duty in writing a long letter to his mother, filled with enthusiastic descriptions of the glorious times he was having, and dwelling most, as may be imagined, on the hooking of the shark the day before.
Fred and Teddy had been delighted to find letters waiting them from the family at home, including one from their Uncle Aaron. They pounced upon the letters eagerly. That from their mother, to which their father had added a few lines as postscript, was full of pride at Fred’s exploit and delight at the prospect opened up of being useful to their uncle in case they found the missing gold.
Teddy tore open the letter which bore the precise handwriting of his uncle with a broad grin on his face.
“Just think, Fred, of opening a letter from Uncle Aaron that doesn’t contain a scolding!” he exclaimed.
“Don’t be too sure,” laughed Fred. “Perhaps he’ll scold you for not having found the chest, instead of telling him you hoped to find it. Hello, what’s that?” as a blue slip fluttered out from the envelope and fell to the floor.
Teddy was on it like a hawk.
“Glory, hallelujah!” he yelled, as he capered around the floor, waving the paper in the air. “It’s a money order for fifty dollars.”
“Fifty dollars!” cried his brother in amazement. “Do you mean to say that Uncle Aaron has loosened up as much as that? You must be crazy.”
“Straight goods,” replied Teddy. “Look for yourself.”
Fred scanned the paper. There was no mistake.
“I take back what I said about your being crazy,” Fred remarked, as he handed the money order back, “but if you’re not, Uncle Aaron is. He must have had a sudden attack of enlargement of the heart.”
He looked over Teddy’s shoulder and they read the letter together. It was written in their uncle’s customary style, except that it was tinctured with a more cordial feeling than he usually displayed toward his nephews. He spoke in terms of great respect of Mr. Montgomery and confirmed what the little memorandum book had revealed as to the amount of the debt. He declared that if the money was found he wanted nothing but the principal, and stated that the interest could go to Ross and his mother as a gift. He warned the boys about letting their hopes get too high, but at the same time urged them to spare no time or pains in the search. If they were successful, they could depend on him to reward them handsomely. As they might need a little extra money he was enclosing fifty dollars, to be used in any way they might think best in carrying on the hunt.
“He’s not such a bad old chap after all,” observed Fred, as they finished reading the letter.
“You bet he isn’t!” echoed Teddy. “There are lots of worse fellows than Uncle Aaron.”
With this qualified praise, they sought out their comrades, who were almost as delighted as the Rushton boys themselves were at the letter and the money order.
“It’s up to us now to get busier than ever,” remarked Lester. “It won’t do to disappoint him after raising his hopes.”
“That’s what,” replied Fred. “So get out the maps you were talking about yesterday, and we’ll lay our plans for the next week or two.”
The boys went to the room where the government maps were kept. These showed every creek and inlet and cove and indentation of the Maine coast, together with the depths of water at these points and a host of other details that were of use to seafaring men.
The boys went at them in a businesslike way, picking out those places most likely to be entered by a sailing ship, rejecting others that were difficult or dangerous to approach, until they had mapped out a program that would keep them busy for ten days to come.
Toward evening the storm gave signs of having spent its worst fury, and just before supper a rift appeared in the clouds on the western horizon.
“That looks promising,” observed Lester to Teddy, who was looking out over the water with him. “Probably it will clear up during the night and we’ll have a peach of a day to-morrow.”
“I certainly hope so,” replied Teddy. “I don’t so much mind being cooped up for one day, but after that it gets kind of monotonous. The strenuous life for me, every time.”
“Yes,” agreed Lester, “one day is about my limit, too. If it’s clear to-morrow, I’ll have to go over to Bartanet to order some supplies and maybe you and the rest of the bunch will come along and keep me company.”
“Surest thing you know,” acquiesced Teddy heartily. “We can see all the excitement that may be stirring in that rushing burg, too. I notice that there’s usually a great deal going on there–not.”
“Well, I’ve got to admit that it isn’t the liveliest place in the world,” admitted Lester with a grin. “Still, once in a while, somebody wakes up long enough to start something. Not often, though, for a fact.”
The others were equally anxious to go and the matter was settled, provided that the weather permitted.
As Lester had predicted, the next day was bright and clear and the boys were up early. Mr. Lee had made out the list of the things he needed, and the boys went merrily down to the little landing place where the boats were kept.
It was decided that they were to row over to the mainland, and Lester and Fred took their places at the oars while the others acted as ballast.
“I’ll let you fellows row at first,” remarked Teddy, in a patronizing tone. “It’s easy going now with no storm in sight. I’ll take it easy, but if any emergency should arise, I’ll take the oars and bring the boat safe to shore. There’s no earthly use, though, in an expert navigator like me spending his time in every-day tugging at a pair of oars. It would be wasting my giant strength for nothing.”
“Oh, it would never do to let Ted row with an ordinary pair of oars,” said Fred sarcastically to Lester. “He’d break those as easily as most people would break the stem of a churchwarden pipe. Back home, we had a pair of tempered steel oars made especially for him and even then he broke them every once in a while. It’s really altogether too expensive.”
“Yes, I should think it would be,” replied Lester gravely. “He must be a good deal like a very strong rower we had about these parts a few years ago.”
“Did he have steel oars, too?” asked Ross, keeping a straight face.
“No,” said Lester slowly. “I’ve no doubt he would have used them if he could have found a pair, but as it happened there weren’t any of that description around. He used to get around it, though, by using two very heavy wooden oars in each hand. That was all right as far as it went, but it wasn’t good enough.”
“Why, what was the matter with that?” asked Teddy.
“Well, you see, there wasn’t any boat strong enough for him,” explained Lester. “He’d sit up in the bow and start to row, and he’d give such tremendous strokes that the front part of the boat would tear away from the stern and go on without it. Of course, the people who owned the boats found this rather expensive, so after a while this man couldn’t get a steady job in the fishing trade at all. He did get another position, though, and as far as I know is working at it yet.”
“It must be a job requiring some strength,” remarked Teddy. “What was it?”
“Carrying barrels of holes from a swiss cheese factory to be made into crullers,” chuckled Lester. “I guess that will hold you for a while. If you like that one, I’ll tell you some more.”
“That’s quite enough from you,” said Teddy, with great dignity. “You’re apt to bring a judgment on us with such stuff as that. One of these big waves may come slap into the boat and send us all to Davy Jones’ locker, if you’re not careful.”
CHAPTER XXIV
RIDING THE SURF
The words were spoken in jest, but they bade fair before long to turn to earnest.
Although the wind had died down, the waves were still running high from the effects of the storm. Lester, however, handled the oars like the skilled waterman he was, and Fred was not far behind him, so that the occupants of the boat felt that they could not be in safer hands. As they got farther out from under the lee of the lighthouse rocks, however, they felt the force of the waves more and more, and Lester had to draw on all his knowledge to keep the boat headed before the big rollers. As one wave followed another, it would shoot the boat ahead as though propelled by some invisible motor, and while this was very exhilarating, it also had a strong element of danger. As long as they went before the waves they were safe enough, but Lester knew that if they broached to, broadside to the waves, they would be swamped in the twinkling of an eye. The water was pretty shoal where they were, and while not actually surf was still near enough like it to keep them all tense and expectant.
As the boys approached the shore, they could see that there was a big surf breaking on the sands. Lester scanned it closely.
“I think we can get through all right, fellows,” he said, “but if we should be swamped going in, it won’t mean anything more than a good wetting. When I say the word, Fred, we want to act fast and together. If we can get a wave just right, we’ll shoot in like an arrow.”
“All right, say when, and I’ll pull my arms out,” promised Fred, taking a firm grip on the oars. “Let her go.”
“Look out you don’t pull the boat apart,” admonished Teddy. “Remember, I’m in the stern, and I don’t want to be left behind.”
His more serious brother rebuked Teddy’s frivolity with a glance, and then turned his eyes toward the line of thundering surf they were rapidly approaching. Lester was absorbed in the problem before him, glancing now at the line of breakers and then at the big waves chasing the boat, each one looking as though it must surely overwhelm it. At last, when they were not more than a hundred feet from the beach, Lester bent to the oars with all his strength, calling:
“Now, Fred, pull! Pull for all you’re worth!”
An involuntary exclamation broke from Bill as he glanced astern. Close behind was a gigantic roller, its foaming crest already starting to bend over. As he gazed, fascinated, the crest broke and rushed at the little boat with a seething hiss. Up, up went the stern and the bow dug deep into the water.
“Pull, pull!” yelled Lester.
His oars and Fred’s bent beneath the force of their straining backs. For a moment it seemed as though the wave must surely break into the boat and swamp it. But suddenly they felt the boat leap forward, as though some giant of the deep had seized it and thrown it from him. With the white water boiling under the stern the boat raced on, caught in the grip of the breaker and traveling inshore with the same speed at which the wave itself moved. The bow cut through the water, curling up a bow wave on each side that at times came into the boat.
Suddenly the little craft started to turn to starboard.
“Pull on the starboard side,” shouted Lester, suiting the action to the word.
Fred promptly obeyed, and after a few straining strokes, the boat returned to a straight path before the roller and the next moment had rushed up on the sand, propelled by the last force of the breaker which went seething and hissing up the beach.
“Out! Get out! Quick!” shouted Fred. “Let’s lift the boat up higher before the next wave comes. Lively’s the word!”
The boys leaped out and rapidly dragged the boat up past the high water mark, just as another wave, even larger than the one that had carried them in, came sweeping over the place where they had landed.
They were a little white and shaken at the danger they had passed through, but at the same time were wildly exhilarated by the excitement of it.
“Whew!” exclaimed Teddy. “It seemed to me that we were traveling faster than the Twentieth Century Limited just then. Why, we were fairly flying. While we were going through I was scared to death, but now I think I’d like to go out and try it again.”
“Not while I’m still in my right mind,” protested Lester. “Surf riding is good sport sometimes, but not when there’s the kind of sea running that there is to-day. It’s possible to have too much of a good thing, you know.”
“Oh, I suppose so,” said the incorrigible Teddy. “But you fellows didn’t have anything to worry about, anyway. I was in the stern, and if a wave had come aboard, I’d have been the one to get wet first.”
“Yes, by about one-tenth of a second,” laughed Bill. “However, all’s well that ends well. I think we all owe a vote of thanks to Teddy for taking us through the way he did. Nobody could have sat there and watched others work better than Teddy did. I think he deserves all sorts of credit.”
“Well, you see, I was neutral,” explained Teddy. “If I didn’t help you, you’ll have to admit that I didn’t help the wave, either.”
“Ted wins,” declared Lester. “Anybody who wants to prove anything against him has got to get up early.”
“If he’s ever accused of a crime, he’ll be able to argue his way out without half trying,” affirmed Ross.
“He could probably get off by giving the judge and jury a bad attack of brain fever,” sniffed Fred. “But what do you say; shall we bail the boat out? We shipped quite a good deal of water.”
“Not so much, considering what we came through,” replied Lester. “Let’s turn the boat over and save the trouble of bailing.”
They turned it over on one side and soon had all the water drained out. Then they left it to dry out in the sun until they should be ready to return.
“Get a wiggle on now,” enjoined Lester. “We’ve got a lot to do and we’d better get going at once.”
The boys started off at a brisk pace and soon found themselves in the part of the village where the stores were located. They made the rounds, Lester making the purchases and having them wrapped up for him and his friends to call for and carry back later on. They met several of Lester’s friends and the time passed so quickly that they were surprised when they found that it was past noon.
“Time to eat!” exclaimed Teddy. “Think of me passing up lunch time like that! I must be sick or something.”
“It is rather a bad sign,” admitted his brother. “Still I guess you’re not going to die just yet. Only the good die young, and that lets you out. But what do you say to stopping in somewhere and getting a bite, Lester? Now that it’s brought to my attention, I find that I’m almost as hungry as Ted usually is. And I can’t put it much stronger than that.”
“Well,” replied Lester, “I was thinking that it might be fun to buy something here and eat it on the way back. We can get some sandwiches and other things and have a regular picnic after we get out of town.”
“Great!” pronounced Bill.
“And the sooner the better,” added Ross.
The lads stopped at the nearest store that promised to supply their needs. As they gazed in the window, trying to make up their minds what to buy, Teddy exclaimed:
“What a nuisance it is to choose! You always have to leave behind more than you take away. If I had plenty of money, I’d buy out the whole store. Wait till we unearth that fortune of Ross’ and then–”
“Sh-h, keep quiet,” warned Fred in a low tone. “You don’t want to tell the whole town all you know, do you?”
“That was a slip of the tongue for fair,” confessed Teddy ruefully, “but I won’t do it again, honest. Besides, nobody could have heard me.”
