CHAPTER VII. ADRIFT IN THE STORM.
At the same instant the sloop staggered and heeled over, sending Hiramhalf across the dingy cabin. He caught at a stanchion and saved himself.Then he turned his amazed gaze afresh on Tubby. The stout youth stood bythe companion stairs, regarding him with a grin. Presently he actuallybegan to hum:
"A life on the ocean wave! A home on the rolling deep!
"Yo ho, my hearties," he added, with a nautical twitch at his breeches,"we're going to have a rough day of it."
As if in answer, the sloop heeled over to another puff. A tin dish,dislodged from the rusty stove, went clattering across the inclined cabinfloor. But still Hiram stood gaping vacantly at Tubby.
"Well, what's the matter?" inquired that individual cheerfully, "have youlost that voice of yours?"
"No, b-b-b-but I thought you were badly wounded!" Hiram managed tosputter.
"So I was, but in reverse English only," said Tubby cheerfully; "thebullet just nicked me and knocked the breath out of me for a minute. WhenI came to, I saw that the best thing I could do was to act like Br'erRabbit and lay low."
Hiram looked his admiration.
"Wa-al," he drawled, dropping, as he seldom did even in emotionalmoments, into his New England dialect, "ef you ain't ther beatingist!
"But, say," he added quickly, "what about that red stain on your shirt?Look, it's all over the front of your uniform."
"Jiggeree, so it is. I guess that fountain pen of mine must have beenbusted cold by that bullet. I had it filled with red ink, because I'dbeen helping Rob fill out some reports to mail to Scout headquarters. Ho!ho!" the fat boy broke into open mirth, "it certainly does look as ifsome one had tapped my claret. Yo-ho! that was a corker!"
The sloop lurched and dipped deeper than ever. They could see the greenwater obscure the port hole for an instant.
"That sea's getting up right along," said Tubby presently, as he unboundHiram's hands. "Say, Hiram," he added anxiously, "you don't get seasickeasily, do you?"
"N-n-n-no, that is, I don't think so," sputtered Hiram rather dubiously.
"Well, don't, I beg from my heart! Don't get seasick till we get on landagain."
"I'll try not to," said the downeast boy seriously, ignoring the fine"bull" which Tubby's remark contained.
"Reminds me," said Tubby presently, "of what the sea captain said to thenervous lady. She went up to him and told him that her husband was scaredof getting seasick. 'My husband's dreadfully liable to seasickness,captain,' she said. 'What must I tell him to do if he feels it comingon?' 'You needn't tell him anything, ma'am,' said the captain; 'no needto tell him what to do--he'll do it.'"
But somehow this bit of humor did not bring even a wan smile to Hiram,willing as he usually was to laugh at Tubby's whimsical jokes. Instead,he turned a pale face on his companion.
"I--I--do feel pretty bad, for a fact!" he moaned.
"Oh, Jiminy Crickets!" wailed Tubby, "he's going to be seasick!"
Hiram, with a ghastly face of a greenish-yellow hue, sank down on one ofthe lockers, resigning himself to his fate. The sloop began to plunge andtumble along in a more lively fashion than ever. Overhead Tubby couldhear the trample of feet, as her crew ran about trying to weather theblow.
Suddenly, above the howling of the wind, Tubby heard a sharp click at thecompanionway door. The next instant the companionway slide was shovedback and a gust of fresh, salt-laden air blew into the close cabin.Stonington Hunt's form was on the stairway the next moment, and Tubby,with a quick dive, threw himself on the floor in a corner, carrying outonce more his role of the badly wounded scout.
Lying there, and breathing in a quick, distressed way, Tubby, out of thecorner of his eye, watched the man as he moved about. Hunt's first ideawas evidently to rouse Hiram. Perhaps he needed him to help in navigatingthe storm-buffeted craft. But he soon gave up the task of instilling theseasick lad with ambition or life. Then came Tubby's turn, but afterbending over the fat boy for an instant, Hunt muttered:
"He's no good," and without offering to aid the supposedly injured boy,moved away. He ascended the steps and presently the companion slidebanged to, and the padlock clicked once more.
Tubby arose, as soon as he was convinced the coast was clear, and,despairing of arousing Hiram, sat on a locker and began to think hard.Rather bitterly he went over in his mind the circumstances leading totheir present predicament. In the first place, he could not but own hehad had no business to embark on such an enterprise at all without abigger force. In the second place, if he had lived up to the Scouts'motto of "Be Prepared," there was a strong possibility that they wouldnot have been so disastrously precipitated through the roof of the lonelyhut. However, before long, Tubby's naturally buoyant temperament asserteditself. As became a boy who had won a first-class scoutship, he did notwaste any further time on vain regrets. Instead of crying over spilledmilk, he began to figure on finding a way out of their predicament.
Casting his eyes about the cabin, he suddenly became aware of a smalldoor in the bulkhead at the forward end of it. Curious by nature, Tubbyopened it, and peered into a dark, cavernous space. A strong odor ofgasoline saluted his nostrils, and presently--his eyes becoming used tothe light--he could make out the occasional glint of metal. In a flash herealized that this was the engine-room of the sloop, and housed herauxiliary motor.
A button-switch being made out by the boy at this moment, he turned it.Instantly two incandescent lights shone out, illuminating the place. Bytheir light Tubby made out another door beyond the motor. Determined toinvestigate the sloop thoroughly--come what might--he thrust it open, andfound himself in what seemed to be the hold. But it was too dark toperceive much. Besides, the sloop was pitching and rolling so terriblythat the lad had all he could do to hold on.
Returning to the engine-room, he almost stumbled across an electric torchsecured to a bracket on the bulkhead. It was evidently used for examiningthe motor without exposing an open light to the fumes of the gasoline.Armed with this, Tubby once more investigated the hold. It was acapacious place. Stanchions, like a forest of bare trees, supported thedeck above. So far as the boy could make out, the place was empty. Farforward was a ladder leading up to a hatchway. Tubby, following out hisnaturally inquiring bent of mind, was about to examine this, when hisheart gave a great bound and then stood still.
He had not thought to cast a glance behind him in his eagerness toexamine the hold.
This had proved to be a fatal bit of oversight on his part, forStonington Hunt and his son, descending to the cabin for some purpose,had observed his absence. A brief investigation showed them the open doorinto the engine-room and thence they had glimpsed the flash of Tubby'storch.
The boy turned, warned by some instinct, just as they tiptoed up behindhim. Freeman Hunt, with a grin on his face, rushed straight at the BoyScout. But Tubby was prepared this time, at any rate. He dashed thetorch, end down, on the floor of the hold, extinguishing it instantly. Atalmost the same instant, he rushed straight at the place where he hadlast seen Freeman Hunt.
To his huge satisfaction, he felt the other go down in a sprawling heapunder his onrush. As he fell, Freeman gave a shout of:
"He ain't wounded at all, dad! He was fooling us!"
"Yes, the brat! He was!" shouted Stonington Hunt, blundering about in theblack hold and striving to keep his footing on the pitching, heavingfloor.
Tubby, guided by instinct, dashed forward toward the spot, as nearly ashe could judge its location, where he had noticed the ladder. He foundit, and had placed his foot on the bottom rung, when there was a suddenshock.
The motion of the sloop seemed to cease, as if by magic. Tubby felthimself hurled forward into darkness by the shock. His head crashedagainst something, and a world of brilliant constellations swam in aglittering array before his eyes. Then something in his head seemed togive way with a snap, and young Hopkins knew no more.