CHAPTER XIII
NODDY NIXON TURNS UP
Would those on the steamer hear it? Would they change the course intime? Could they, at the rate the ship was going?
These were questions which surged through the minds of those on the_Dartaway_. How anxiously they waited to see how they would be answered!
"If she hits us jump for your lives!" cried Sam, climbing through theawning curtains out on the gunwale. "It's the only chance we've got!"
But there was some excitement on the steamer. Lights flashed out onthe bow. Then a big glaring beam from a search lantern cut through thegloom. There were confused shouts, a jingle of bells. Evidently thecannon had been heard.
"She's veering off! She's veering off!" yelled the sailor. "Look outfor the wash as she passes us!"
Indeed, the great steamer could be seen to be changing her course. Theimmense bow seemed to glide away from the motor boat. As the boys heldtheir breaths the vessel loomed up almost in front of them, but safelyaway. They had just escaped being run down.
With inquiring toots from her big whistles the steamer surged past the_Dartaway_. As she glided by the boys could see, leaning over the rail,a group of men. Doubtless they wondered what venturesome mariners thesewere, out so far at sea in a little craft.
"Hold hard!" cried Sam.
He spoke only just in time, for the _Dartaway_ began to rock violentlyfrom the wash of the steamer's propellors. The boys clung to the awningstanchions or they might have been flung overboard.
Then, as the steamer, in her changed course, showed her stern lights tothose on the motor boat, there came a feeling of thanksgiving at theirprovidential escape from almost certain death.
"Lucky you had that cannon!" commented Sam. "It was better than a hornor whistle."
For a few minutes the boys could not reply, they were so unnerved. Butthe old sailor seemed to take it as a matter of course.
"It isn't the first time I've been nearly cut in two by a steamer," hesaid. "That often happens on the fishing banks."
Jerry made his way back to the cockpit and sat down on a bunk. He wastrembling from the excitement.
"Brace up!" spoke Sam, noticing the boy's condition. "Have another tryat the engine. See if the pipe is stopped up."
That put Jerry's mind on another subject, and relieved him of thestrain he was under. He waited until the commotion of the water hadsomewhat subsided, and then went forward again to the gasolene tank.
Baring his arm to the shoulder, and lying flat out on the bow, in orderto get to the bottom of the receptacle, he felt around in it. For a fewmoments there was an anxious wait. Then he cried:
"I've got it!"
He pulled out a bunch of cotton waste, used to clean the engine with.How it got in the tank was a mystery, but it had effectually stoppedthe flow of gasolene.
"Now for another try!" exclaimed Bob. "I'll bet the _Dartaway_ willprove equal to her name."
Anxiously the boys went back to the engine. The fly wheel was spunaround. This time there was an answering chug-chug, and, a moment laterthe motor was humming away in a fashion that thrilled the hearts ofall.
"We're off!" shouted Bob.
"Wait until I get my tub!" exclaimed Sam. "It's all I've got left of myoutfit."
He scrambled aft, and hauled aboard the improvised drag. Then Jerrythrew in the clutch and the _Dartaway_ shot ahead.
"Which way shall I steer?" asked Jerry, who had gone to the wheel.
"Well, we're as bad off as ever in that regard," the sailor replied."Wait a minute though. That steamer was cutting right across our bows.We ought to keep straight on I guess, to fetch up on the coast, as thevessel was going down along it. I think I know where we are."
For a few minutes the boat went along, riding more evenly, now that ithad better headway. Suddenly there flashed on it a glaring light. Itwas steady for a second, and then turned red. It flashed the ruby glowtwice, and then disappeared.
"What was that?" cried Bob.
"The lighthouse!" exclaimed Ned.
"Sure enough," came from Sam. "It's all right. I know where I am now.Better let me take the wheel."
With the sureness of one who knows his way, even in the darkest night,the old sailor turned the craft into the proper channel. Forward itwent, like a frightened hare scudding back to the shelter of theburrow.
"Rocky Point Light;--the South Light," murmured Salt Water Sam. "I'mright at home now. We must have been behind the upper headland or we'dseen it before. It's all right. We're on our way back."
So it proved. Through the darkness, illuminated only by the red andgreen side lamps, the _Dartaway_ sped, steered by a sure hand. On andon she went toward the harbor.
The boys did not learn until afterward that they had been towed nearlytwenty miles by the whale. Had the weather not remained calm they wouldhave been in dire peril, but fortune favored them, even in the matterof escaping from the steamer. Had they been taken straight out to seathey would have had more trouble, but the big monster, in his blindrage, had taken a diagonal course up the coast.
"My, but I am sleepy," remarked Jerry, stretching himself.
"So am I," added Ned.
"You boys better take a nap," Sam said. "I'll call you about eightbells and take forty winks myself. We'll get in about daylight." Andthen he began to sing:
"Oh it's Ho! for a sailor's life for me; When stormy winds do blow! And waves run high; Up to the sky; With mermaids down below!"
"You're quite a poet," said Jerry.
"I didn't make that up," replied the sailor. "It was a feller with twoeyes. I was mate and he was second mate on the _Tumbling Turtle_."
The boys felt tired enough to take Sam's advice. They covered upwith blankets on the bunks in the little cabin, and, in spite of theexcitement of the day and night, dozed off.
It was daylight when Sam awoke them, and they were just entering theharbor of Harmon Beach.
"I thought you were going to call us at eight bells," said Bob.
"Four o'clock in the morning's no time for boys to be getting up," saidSam. "I hated to disturb you. I'm used to staying up."
"I must hurry up and let mother know we're all right," said Jerry asthe boat swung up to the dock. "She'll be worried."
The boys found a crowd awaiting their return, though it was but seveno'clock. The rumor of their disappearance in the hunt for the whale hadspread all through the summer colony.
"Salt Water Sam was along," the sailor remarked proudly to some of thequestioners. "We knew what we were about." He did not mention how nearthey had come to being run down.
"Did you get the whale?" asked a man of the sailor, as the boys hurriedashore and ran to the Hopkins cottage.
"We did and we didn't," replied the old salt.
"Well, you killed him, anyway."
"What's that?"
"He came ashore, dead, down the beach, a little while ago."
"Are you joking?"
"Not a bit of it. Word to that effect just came."
"Whoop!" yelled Sam. "I'll get my old harpoon back. I must tell theboys. So I haven't forgot how to throw the iron! Whoop! Shiver mytimbers! I've killed my last whale! Hold me down, somebody!"
Salt Water Sam was dancing about in great excitement.
"Where's the whale?" he inquired.
"About three miles south, on the beach."
"I'm going right down and see it. I must get the boys. This'll be greatnews for them."
Sam made the boat fast to the dock and hurried to the cottage wherethe chums had gone. They had just succeeded in telling Mrs. Hopkinsall about their trip. She had been somewhat worried, but she felt thatJerry and his companions could take care of themselves. They had beenaway too many nights before, and had gone through too many adventures,for her to do much worrying, unless she had good cause.
"Good news, boys!" cried Sam, coming in unannounced.
"What is it?"
"We've got our whale! Come on!" He rapidly explained.
Mrs. Hopkins wanted them to at least stay for breakfast, but they wouldnot hear of it.
"I'm going to lay claim to the creature," the sailor exclaimed. "It hasmy harpoon in it. That proves property. Can't lose any time."
The boys hurried back to the dock and got into the boat, and starteddown the coast. As they neared a little cove, on which was locatedanother summer colony, they could see a big crowd collected.
"That's where it is," Sam remarked. "Put in there."
When they landed they saw a big shapeless body stranded on the beach.It resembled an immense log of black wood.
"There's my whale!" cried Sam, proudly.
The creature looked vastly different from the monster that had towedthe boys in their boat out to sea. They went closer to the crowd, whichsurrounded the bulk of flesh and bone. As they made their way throughthe fringe of people they heard some one saying:
"Now you've all got to get away. This is my whale. I discovered it. I'mgoing to put a tent over it and charge twenty-five cents admission.Stand back, I say!"
Something about the tones struck the boys as being familiar. They wentcloser.
"Here, no more can come here!" exclaimed a youth, who began shoving themotor boys back. "This is my whale."
There, confronting our three heroes, was Noddy Nixon.