CHAPTER IX
IN ST. AUGUSTINE
The storm came up more quickly than even the captain or his sailorsthought it would. The deep, blue sea, which had been such a pretty colorwhen the sun shone on it, now turned to a dark green shade. The blue skywas covered by black and angry-looking clouds, and the wind seemed tomoan as it hummed about the ship.
But the steamer did not stop. On it rushed over the water, with foam infront, at the prow, or bow, and foam at the stern where the bigpropeller churned away.
"Come, children!" called Mrs. Bobbsey to the twins, as they stood at therail, looking first up at the gathering clouds and then down at thewater, which was now quite rough. "Come! I think we had better go to ourcabins."
"Oh, let us stay up just a little longer," begged Bert. "I've never seena storm at sea, and I want to."
"Well, you and Nan may stay up on deck a little longer," said Mrs.Bobbsey. "But you must not go far away from daddy. I don't want any ofyou to fall overboard, especially when such big sharks may be in theocean."
"Oh, I'm not going to fall overboard!" exclaimed Bert. "Never!"
"Nor I," added his sister. "I'll keep tight hold of the rail, and whenit gets too rough we'll come down."
Mr. Bobbsey and some of the men passengers were still on deck, watchingthe approach of the storm, and Bert and Nan moved over nearer theirfather, while Mrs. Bobbsey went below with Flossie and Freddie. The twosmaller twins, when they found their older brother and sister were goingto stay on deck, also wanted to do this, but their mother said to them:
"No, it is safer for you to be down below with me. It may come on toblow hard at any moment, and then it won't be so easy to go down thestairs when the ship is standing on its head, or its ear, or whateverway ships stand in a storm."
"But I want to see the storm!" complained Freddie.
"You'll see all you want of it, and feel it, too, down in our stateroom,as well as up on deck, and you'll be much safer," his mother told him.
The storm came up more and more quickly, and, though it was not yet fouro'clock, it was as dark as it usually is at seven, for so many cloudscovered the sky. The waves, too, began to get larger and larger and,pretty soon, the steamer, which had been going along smoothly, or withnot more than a gentle roll from side to side, began pitching andtossing.
"Oh, my! isn't it getting dark?" cried Flossie.
"Say, it isn't time to go to bed yet, is it?" questioned Freddieanxiously.
"Of course not!" answered his twin. "It's only about the middle of theafternoon, isn't it, Mother?"
"Just about," answered Mrs. Bobbsey.
In the meanwhile the others, who were still on deck, were having adecidedly lively time of it.
"Come on, Nan and Bert!" called Mr. Bobbsey, to the older twins. "Betterget below while you have the chance. It's getting too rough for childrenup here."
"Are you coming too, Daddy?" asked Nan.
"Yes, I'll go down with you. In fact, I think every one is going belowexcept the sailors."
This was so, for the mate was going about telling the passengers stillon deck that it would be best for them to get to the shelter of thecabins and staterooms.
Nan and Bert started to walk across the deck, and when they were almostat the stairs, or the "companionway" as it is called, that led to theirrooms, the ship gave a lurch and roll, and Bert lost his balance.
"Oh! Oh!" he cried, as he found himself sliding across the deck, whichwas tilted up almost like an old-fashioned cellar door, and Bert wasrolling down it. "Oh, catch me, Dad!"
Luckily he rolled in, and not out, or he would have rolled to the edgeof the ship. Not that he could have gone overboard, for there was arailing and netting to stop that, but he would have been badlyfrightened if he had rolled near the edge, I think.
"Look out!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, as he saw Bert sliding and slipping."Look out, or you'll fall downstairs!"
And that is just what happened. Bert rolled to the top of thecompanionway stairs, and right down them. Luckily he was a stout, chubbyboy, and, as it happened, just then a sailor was coming up the stairs,and Bert rolled into him. The sailor was nearly knocked off his feet bythe collision with Bert, but he managed to get hold of a rail and holdon.
"My! My! What's this?" cried the sailor, when he got his breath, whichBert had partly knocked from him. "Is this a new way to comedownstairs?"
"I--I didn't mean to," Bert answered, as he managed to stand up and holdon to the man. "The ship turned upside down, I guess, and I rolled downhere."
"Well, as long as you're not hurt it's all right," said the sailor witha laugh. "It is certainly a rough storm. Better get below and stay thereuntil it blows out."
"Yes, sir, I'm getting," grinned Bert.
"I think that is good advice," said Mr. Bobbsey to the sailor, with asmile, as he hurried after Bert, but not coming in the same fashion ashis son.
Nan had grabbed tightly hold of a rope and clung to it when the shipgave a lurch. She was not hurt, but her arms ached from holding on sotightly.
After that one big roll and toss the steamer became steady for a littlewhile, and Mr. Bobbsey and the two children made their way to thestateroom where Mrs. Bobbsey was sitting with Flossie and Freddie.
"What happened?" asked Bert's mother, as she saw that he was rather"mussed up," from what had occurred.
"Oh, I tried to come down the stairs head first," Bert answered with alaugh. "I don't like that way. I'm not going to do it again," and hetold what had taken place.
And then the storm burst with a shower of rain and a heavy wind thattossed and pitched the boat, and made many of the passengers wish theywere safe on shore.
The Bobbsey twins had often been on the water, when on visits to UncleWilliam at the seashore, as I have told you in that book, and they werenot made ill by the pitching and tossing of the steamer.
Still it was not much fun to stay below decks, which they and the othershad to do all that night and most of the next day. It was too rough forany one to be out on deck, and even the sailors, used as they were toit, had trouble. One of them was nearly washed overboard, but his matessaved him. And one of the lifeboats--the same one in which the men hadgone to save the fishermen from the sharks--was broken and torn awaywhen a big wave hit it.
"Is it always rough like this when you go past Cape Hatteras?" askedBert of his father.
"Very frequently, yes. You see Cape Hatteras is a point of land of NorthCarolina, sticking out into the ocean. In the ocean are currents ofwater, and when one rushes one way and one the other, and they cometogether, it makes a rough sea, especially when there is a strong wind,as there is now. We are in this rough part of the ocean, and in themidst of a storm, too. But we will soon be out of it."
However, the steamer could not go so fast in the rough water as shecould have traveled had it been smooth, and the wind, blowing againsther, also held her back. So it was not until late on the second day thatthe storm passed away, or rather, until the ship got beyond it.
Then the rain stopped, the sun came out from behind the clouds justbefore it was time to set, and the hard time was over. The sea wasrough, and would be for another day, the sailors said.
"And can we go on deck in the morning?" asked Bert, who did not likebeing shut up in the stateroom.
"I guess so," his father answered.
The next morning all was calm and peaceful, though the waves were largerthan when the Bobbsey twins had left New York.
Every one was glad that the storm had passed, and that nothing hadhappened to the steamer, except the loss of the one small boat.
"Were those fishermen who fought the sharks out in all that blow intheir small motor boat, Dad?" asked Bert.
"Oh, no," his father told him. "They only go out from shore, take uptheir nets or lobster pots, and go quickly back again. Their boats arenot made for staying out in all night. Though perhaps sometimes, in afog, when they can't see to get back, they may be out a long time. But Idon't believe they were out in this st
orm."
It was peaceful traveling now, on the deep blue sea, which was a prettycolor again, and the Bobbsey twins, leaning over the rail and looking atit, thought they had never come on such a fine voyage.
"It's getting warmer," said Bert when they had eaten dinner and wereonce more on deck.
"Yes, we are getting farther south, nearer to the equator, and it isalways warm there," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"Are we near Florida?" asked Nan.
"Yes, we will be there this evening," her father told her.
It was late in the afternoon when the steamer reached Jacksonville. Asthe arrival of the steamship had been delayed by the storm, theBobbsey's were left no time to look about Jacksonville, but hurried atonce to the railroad station, and there took the train that carried themto St. Augustine. It was about an hour before sunset when they got outof the train at this quaint, pretty old town.
"Oh, what funny little streets!" cried Bert, as they started for theirhotel where they were to stay until they could go to the hospital andsee Cousin Jasper. "What little streets!"
"Aren't they darling?" exclaimed Nan.
"Yes, this is a very old city," said Mr. Bobbsey, "and some of thestreets are no wider than they were made when they were laid out hereover three hundred years ago."
"Oh, is this city as old as that--three hundred years?" asked Nan, whileFlossie and Freddie peered about at the strange sights.
"Yes, and older," said Mr. Bobbsey. "St. Augustine is the oldest city inthe United States. It was settled in 1565 by the Spaniards, and Isuppose they built it like some of the Spanish cities they knew. That iswhy the streets are so narrow."
And indeed the streets were very narrow. The one called St. George isonly seventeen feet wide, and it is the principal street in St.Augustine. Just think of a street not much wider than a very big room.And Treasury street is even narrower, being so small that two people canstand and shake hands across it. Really, one might call it only analley, and not a street.
The Bobbseys saw many negroes about the streets, some driving littledonkey carts, and others carrying fruit and other things in baskets ontheir heads.
"Don't they ever fall off?" asked Freddie, as he watched one big, fatcolored woman on whose head, covered with a bright, red handkerchief, or"bandanna," there was a large basket of fruit. "Don't they ever falloff?"
"What do you mean fall off--their heads?" asked Bert with a smile.
"No, I mean the things they carry," said Freddie.
"Well, I guess they start in carrying things that way from the time theyare children," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "and they learn to balance things ontheir heads as well as you children learn to balance yourselves onroller skates. I dare say the colored people here would find it as hardto roller skate as you would to carry a heavy load on your head."
"Well, here we are at our hotel," said Mr. Bobbsey, as the automobile inwhich they had ridden up from the station came to a stop in front of afine building. "Now we will get out and see what they have for supper."
"And then will we go to Cousin Jasper and find out what his strangestory is?"
"I guess so," her father answered.
"Say, this is a fine hotel!" exclaimed Bert as he and the others saw thebeautiful palm and flower gardens, with fountains between them, in thecourtyard of the place where they were to stop.
"Oh, yes, St. Augustine has wonderful hotels," said his father. "This isa place where many rich people come to spend the winter that would betoo cold for them in New York. Now come inside."
THE SHIP GAVE A LURCH AND BURT LOST HIS BALANCE.]
Into the beautiful hotel they went, and when Mr. Bobbsey was askingabout their rooms, and seeing that the baggage was brought in, Mrs.Bobbsey glanced around to make sure the four twins were with her, forsometimes Flossie or Freddie strayed off.
And that is what had happened this time. Freddie was not in sight.
"Oh, where is that boy?" cried his mother. "I hope he hasn't crawleddown another ventilator pipe!"
"No'm," answered one of the hotel men. "He hasn't done that. I saw yourlittle boy run back out of the front door a moment ago. But he'll be allright. Nothing can happen to him in St. Augustine."
"Oh, but I must find him!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Dick, Freddie isgone again!" she said to her husband. "We must find him at once!" andshe hurried from the hotel.