CHAPTER XVIII
A NIGHT OF ANXIETY
"Hey! here's Nick getting into his cork jacket already!" called Herb.
"All right," said the one in question, firmly. "Think I want to getwashed out on that pond without something to hold me up? Remember, I'm anew beginner when it comes to swimming. And then I've got more to holdup than the rest of you."
"Well, help me get this tent down first," remonstrated Herb. "We don'twant to be caught by a storm with these things up, you know."
"But it might rain?" Nick protested.
"Let it. We've got oilskins; and perhaps there'll be plenty of time leftto get into the same. Take hold there."
Herb was right; and the crews of all the little motor boats had alreadystarted to stow away the big covers. Jack kept things as snug aspossible aboard the _Tramp_, in case of a downpour; and that was not atall the thing he feared most.
They were within fifty feet of cruel looking rocks. If the wind brokeout from any quarter that would send the big billows churning againstthat barrier, the fate of the motor boat fleet could be easily guessed.
In a little while everything had been done that seemed possible; afterwhich they could only sit there, and await whatever was to be handed outto them.
Nick and Josh were plainly nervous; and even Jimmie showed some signs ofapprehension, nor could they be blamed for this timidity.
"What if one of the boats is swept away?" suggested Josh; who, being inthe narrow-beam _Wireless_ understood that he had much less chance forsafety than those who manned the other craft.
"No danger of that happening," Jack replied, quickly. "The only thing wehave to fear is being smashed up against these rocks. Our boats wouldcave in like puff balls."
"That's what," Josh went on. "Perhaps fellows, we ought to go ashore inthe dinkies while we have the chance. Even if we lost the boats we'dsave our lives. And I promised my folk at home I wouldn't take anyunnecessary risks, you know."
But George only sniffed at the idea.
"Rats!" he exclaimed. "There you go just as usual, magnifying thedanger, Josh. As for me, I'm going to stick like glue to this old_Wireless_. Just see me deserting her because a little squall chances toblow up. Get ashore if you feel like it. And you too, Buster; onlyremember, if we should be blown miles away, you two fellows would be aptto starve to death in this lonely region."
"That settles it," said Nick, immediately.
If there was any chance of his starving, he stood ready to accept allsorts of perils rather than face that possibility. And doubtless Georgeknew all this when he put the case so strenuously.
Josh too decided that he did not want to go ashore. If the others couldstand the danger, he would too.
"It may not be so bad for us, fellows," observed Jack. "Because, if youlook up, you'll see that the clouds are coming from the land side. Andevery bang of thunder up to now has been from that direction too. Thestorm this time doesn't mean to cross the lake, and hit this shore. Andunless it changes around, we'll be protected from it by these very rockswe feared so much!"
"Bully! bully! Good for you, Jack!" cried Nick, as if greatly relieved."I'm feeling so much better I almost believe my lost appetite isreturning."
"Well, it's so, ain't it?" demanded the other.
"Sure it is," echoed Jimmie, with delight in his voice.
"That's the best news I've heard this long while," remarked George, whodespite his seeming valor, was secretly much distressed over theoutlook.
The thunder increased in violence. Then they heard the sweep of the windthrough the pines and hemlocks on the shore. And in less than tenminutes the rain was pouring down like a deluge.
They had secured things so that little harm would be done. Still, theoutlook was far from attractive, with several hours of darkness ahead;during which they must keep on constant guard, not knowing at whatminute the wind might take a notion to veer around to some quarter, thatwould send the waves dashing against the rockbound shore so near by.
It seemed as severe a gale as the one they had experienced only a shorttime before. Indeed, Jack was of the opinion that the wind was evengreater, though they did not feel it the same way, because of theshelter obtained from the land.
They would never be apt to forget that night, no matter how time passed.Watching was serious business for Nick; and three times he was known tocreep over to where Herb kept his cracker bag, doubtless to interesthimself in a little "snack," so as to briefly forget his othertroubles.
Nor did Herb have the heart to take him to task about it. Theirsituation was so very distressing that he could think of nothing else.Every time the lightning flamed athwart the black sky the boys wouldlook out at the troubled waters stretching as far as the eye could see;or else send an anxious glance toward the grim rocks that loomed up sovery close over their bows.
Hours seemed like days. Nick groaned, and declared he ached in everybone.
"What d'ye think of me, then?" demanded Josh. "You're well padded; whileI reckon my poor old bones are going to stick through, pretty soon. Idassent stand up, because George won't let me; and you can. I wish youhad my berth, Buster."
But at last Herb declared that there were certainly signs of dawn comingin the east. Every eye was turned that way; and upon learning that thenews was true the boys began to take on fresh hope.
"Well," George said for the tenth time, "I'm glad of one thing, andthat is we managed to get my engine in working order last night beforesupper. Goodness knows what a fix I'd have been in otherwise, if we hadto put out to sea when the wind changed."
"Oh! murdher! I hope it won't do the same!" exclaimed Jimmie, whooverheard the remark, and was filled with dismay as he surveyed the wildscene that stretched away off toward the southern horizon.
"Can't we manage somehow to cook something warm?" asked George.
"Yes, that's it," immediately echoed Nick, beginning to bustle around inthe steady old _Comfort_. "We'll all feel so much better if we havebreakfast. Nothing like a full stomach to put bravery in a fellow, Itell you."
"Oh! how brave you must feel all the time, then!" observed Josh,sarcastically.
But Jack knew that this time the fat boy spoke the truth. When peopleare wet and shivering things are apt to look gloomy enough; but oncewarm them up, and let them eat a hot meal, and somehow a rosy tingebegins to paint the picture.
They knew just how to go about the matter; and those wonderful GermanJuwel kerosene gas stoves filled the bill to a dot; as Nick declared,after the delightful aroma of boiling coffee had begun to reach hiseager nostrils.
And while the wind still howled through the pines up on the high rocks,and the billows rolled away toward the south, growing in size as theydrew farther off shore, the motor boat boys sat down to a tastybreakfast.
"Now, this isn't so bad," observed Nick, as he started in on what hadbeen dished out to him by Herb, who this time had done the cooking.
"It will be for the boss if he don't get to work in a hurry," Josh flungacross the watery space that separated the boats.
"Don't worry on my account," laughed Herb. "I've got a mortgage on thebalance in the fryingpan, and he'd better not touch it on his life."
"Think the bally old storm is over, Jack?" asked Nick, presently.
"The worst of it is, and I believe the wind seems to be dying down alittle," came the ready reply, as Jack swept the heavens with anxiouseyes.
"I thought that last gust came out a little more toward the west,"remarked one of the others.
"I'd hate to know that," Jack said. "For old sailors say that when thewind backs up into the west, after being in the north, without going allthe way around, it means a return of the storm, from another quarter."
"Time enough to get ashore yet!" muttered Josh.
"Go ahead, if you want to," George said grimly. "Take some grub along,if you make up your mind that way. But I don't stir out of this boatunless I'm thrown out. Understand that?"
An hour later, and Jack saw that his worst fears wer
e realized.
"Wind's getting around fast now, fellows," he announced.
"It sure is," Herb admitted; for he had been noticing the increasedroughness of the water for a little while back.
"What must we do, Jack?" asked George, with set teeth, and that look ofdetermination in his eyes that stood for so much.
"Hold out as long as we can," came the reply in a steady voice. "Then,when the danger of our being dashed against the rocks grows too great,we'll just have to up-anchor, and start our engines to moving. It willbe safer for us out yonder than so near the shore."
Another half hour went by. Then the little boats were pitching andtossing violently, as the full force of the onrushing waves caught them.
"Can't stand it much longer, Jack!" called out George, who was havingthe most serious time of all.
"Then we might as well make the move now as later!" called Jack. "So getgoing, both of you. And remember to stand by as close as you can, sothat we may help in case an upset happens to any boat."
Of course George knew his chum had the cranky _Wireless_ in mind when hesaid this; but the peril was not alone confined to the one boat.
Accordingly the engines were started, the anchors gotten aboard after atremendous amount of hard work; and the little motor boat fleet put tosea, with the intention of trying to ride the storm out as best theymight.
If the engines only continued faithful all might yet be well.