CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
Guided by the marks made on the trees, William and Ready made rapidprogress in their return, and in less than two hours found themselvesalmost clear of the wood which had taken them nearly eight hours toforce their way through the day before.
"I feel the wind now, Ready," observed William, "and we must be nearlythrough the wood; but it appears to me to be very dark."
"I was just thinking the same," replied Ready. "I should not wonder ifthere is a storm brewing up; and if so, the sooner we are back again thebetter."
As they proceeded, the rustling and waving of the boughs of the trees,and ever and anon a gust of wind, followed by a moaning and creakingsound, proved that such was the fact; and as they emerged from thegrove, they perceived that the sky, as it became visible to them, was ofone dark leaden hue, and no longer of the brilliant blue which itusually had presented to their sight.
"There is indeed a gale coming on," said Ready, as they cleared thewood: "let us go on to the tents as fast as possible, for we must seethat all is as secure as we can make it."
The dogs now bounded forward; and at their appearance at the tents MrSeagrave and Juno came out, and seeing Ready and William advancing, madeknown the welcome tidings to Mrs Seagrave, who, with the children, hadremained within. In a moment more William was pressed in his mother'sarms.
"I am glad that you are come back, Ready," said Mr Seagrave, shakinghim by the hand after he had embraced William, "for I fear that badweather is coming on."
"I am sure of it," replied Ready, "and we must expect a blusterousnight. This will be one of the storms which are forerunners of therainy season. However, we have good news for you, and must only takethis as a warning to hasten our departure as soon as possible. We shallhave fine weather after this for a month or so, although we must expecta breeze now and then. But we must work hard and do our best; and now,if you please, you and Juno, William and I, will go and haul up the boatas far from the beach as we possibly can, for the waves will be high andrun a long way up, and our boat will be our main dependence soon."
The four went down as soon as Ready had sawed the ends of the sparswhich had been cut off, into three rollers, to fix under the keel; withthe help afforded by them, the boat was soon hauled up high into thebrushwood, where it was considered by Ready to be perfectly safe.
"I meant to have worked upon her immediately," observed Ready; "but Imust wait now till the gale is over; and I did hope to have got on boardonce more, and looked after some things which I have since rememberedwould have been useful; but I strongly suspect," continued he, lookingat the weather, "that we shall never go on board of the poor vesselagain. Hear the moaning of the coming storm, sir; look how thesea-birds wheel about and scream, as if to proclaim her doom; but wemust not wait here--the tents must be made more secure, for they willhave to hold up against no small force of wind, if I mistake not."
Ready, assisted by Mr Seagrave, now got out some heavy canvas andlines, and commenced putting it as a double cover over the tents, tokeep out the rain; they also secured the tents with guys and stays ofrope, so as to prevent them being blown down; while Juno with a shoveldeepened the trench which had been made round the tents, so that thewater might run off more easily. During the time they were at work,Ready had made Mr Seagrave acquainted with what they had discovered anddone during the exploring expedition, and the adventure with the pigsmade them all laugh heartily.
As the sun went down, the weather threatened still more; the wind blewstrong, and the rocky beach was lashed by the waves and white withspray, while the surf roared as it poured in and broke upon the sand inthe cove. The whole family had retired to bed except Ready, who saidthat he would watch the weather a little before he turned in. The oldman walked towards the beach, and leaned against the gunnel of the boat,and there he remained with his keen grey eye fixed upon the distance,which was now one opaque mass, except where the white foam of the watersgleamed through the darkness of the night! "Yes!" thought he; "thewinds and the waves are summoned to do his bidding, and evenly do theywork together--as one rises, so does the other; when one howls, theother roars in concert--hand in hand they go in their fury and theirforce. Had they been called up but one week since, where would havebeen those who have now been, as it were, intrusted to my weak help?The father, the mother, the children, the infant at the breast, and I,the grey-headed old man,--all buried fathoms deep, awaiting our summons;but they were restrained by his will, and by his will we were saved.Will those timbers which bore us here so miraculously hold together tillmorning? I should think not. What are the iron bolts and fastenings ofweak man, compared with the force of God's elements: they will snap asyarns; and by to-morrow's dawn, the fragments of the stout ship will bewashing and tossing on the wild surf. Well, it will be a kindness tous, for the waters will perform the labour which we could not; they willbreak up the timbers for our use, and throw on shore from the hold thosearticles which we could not reach with our little strength."
A sharp flash of lightning struck upon the old man's eyes, andobstructed his vision for the moment. "The storm will soon be at itsheight," thought he; "I will watch the tents, and see how they stand upagainst its force." Then the rain came pattering down, and the windhowled louder than before. In a minute or two the darkness became sointense that he could hardly find his way back to the tents. He turnedround, but could not see, for he was blinded by the heavy rain. Asnothing could be done, he went into the tent and sheltered himself fromthe storm, although he would not lie down, lest his services might berequired. The others had retired to bed, but with the exception ofTommy and the children, they had not taken off their clothes.