CHAPTER XXVIII
_In Which the "Spot Cash" is Caught By a Gale In the Night and Skipper Bill Gives Her Up For Lost_
It was blowing up when Archie returned to the _Spot Cash_. There was afine rain in the wind, too; and a mist--hardly yet a fog--was growingdenser on the face of a whitening sea. Nothing to bother about yet, ofcourse: only a smart breeze and a little tumble, with thick weather tomake a skipper keep his eyes open. But there was the threat of heavywind and a big sea in gray sky overhead and far out upon the water.Tilt Cove was no place for the _Spot Cash_ to lie very long; she mustlook for shelter in Sop's Arm before night.
"Archie, b'y," said Bill o' Burnt Bay, in the cozy forecastle with theboys, "there's something queer about this here _Black Eagle_."
"I should say so!" Archie sneered. "It's the first time I ever knew myfather not to play fair."
"Bosh!" Skipper Bill ejaculated.
Archie started up in a rage.
"'Ear the wind!" said Bagg, with a little shiver.
It had begun to blow in earnest. The wind, falling over the cliff,played mournfully in the rigging. A gust of rain lashed the skylight.Swells from the open rocked the schooner.
"Blowin' up," said Billy Topsail.
"How long have you knowed Sir Archibald?" the skipper asked.
Archie laughed.
"Off an' on for about sixteen years, I 'low?" said the skipper.
Archie nodded shortly.
"'Ark t' the wind!" Bagg whispered.
"'Twill be all in a tumble off the cape," said Jimmie Grimm.
"Know Sir Archibald _well_?" the skipper pursued.
Archie sat down in disgust.
"Pretty intimate, eh?" asked the skipper.
The boy laughed again; and then all at once--all in a flash--hisill-humour and suspicion vanished. His father not play fair? Howpreposterous the fancy had been! Of _course_, he was playing fair!But somebody wasn't. And _who_ wasn't?
"It is queer," said he. "What do you make of it, Bill?"
"I been thinkin'," the skipper replied heavily.
"Have you fathomed it?"
"Well," the skipper drawled, "I've thunk along far enough t' want t'look into it farder. I'd say," he added, "t' put back t' Conch."
"It's going to blow, Skipper Bill."
It had already begun to blow. The wind was moaning aloft. Thelong-drawn melancholy penetrated to the cozy cabin. In the shelter ofthe cliff though she was, the schooner tossed in the spent seas thatcame swishing in from the open.
"Well," the skipper drawled, "I guess the wind won't take the hair offa body; an' I 'low we can make Conch afore the worst of it."
"I'm with the skipper," said Billy Topsail.
"Me, too," said Jimmie Grimm.
Bagg had nothing to say; he seldom had, poor fellow! in a gale ofwind.
"I've a telegram to send," said Archie.
It was a message of apology. Archie went ashore with a lighter heartto file it. What an unkindly suspicious fool he had been! hereflected, heartily ashamed of himself.
"Something for you, sir," said the agent.
Sir Archibald's telegram was put in the boy's hand; and when this hadbeen read aboard the _Spot Cash_--and when the schooner had roundedCape John and was taking full advantage of a sudden change of wind tothe southwest--Archie and the skipper and the crew felt very wellindeed, thank you!
* * * * *
It blew hard in the afternoon--harder than Bill o' Burnt Bay hadsurmised. The wind had a slap to it that troubled the little _SpotCash_. Crested seas broke over her bows and swept her deck. She wassmothered in white water half the time. The wind was rising, too. Itwas to be a big gale from the southeast. It was already half a gale.There was wind enough for the _Spot Cash_. Much more would shake anddrown her like a chip. Bill o' Burnt Bay, at the wheel, and the crew,forward and amidships, kept watch for the coast and the friendlylandmarks of harbour. But what with wind and fog and rain it was adisheartening business.
When night gathered, the coast was not in sight. The _Spot Cash_ wastossing somewhere offshore in a rising gale and dared not venture in.The wind continued in the southeast. The coast was a lee shore--allrocks and islands and cliffs. The _Spot Cash_ must beat out again tosea and wait for the morning. Any attempt to make a harbour of thatharsh shore in the dark would spell destruction. But the sea washardly more hospitable. The _Spot Cash_, reefed down almost to barepoles, and standing out as best she could, tossed and plunged in thebig black seas, with good heart, to be sure, but, presently, withsmall hope. It seemed to Bill o' Burnt Bay that the little craft wouldbe broken and swamped.
The boys came aft from forward and amidships. All at once Archie, whohad been staring into the night ahead, started, turned and uttered anejaculation of dismay, which a gust of wind drove into the skipper'sear.
"What is it, b'y?" Skipper Bill roared.
"I forgot to insure her," shouted Archie.
Skipper Bill grinned.
"It's ruin if we wreck, Bill," Archie shouted again.
It looked to Bill o' Burnt Bay like wreck and death. If so, the ruinmight take care of itself. It pleased him to know that Archie wasstill unconcerned about his life. He reflected that if the _Spot Cash_should by any chance survive he would tell Sir Archibald that story.But a great sea and a smothering blast of wind distracted him. The seacame clear over the bow and broke amidships; the wind fairly drove thebreath back into the skipper's throat. There would be two more seas heknew: there were always three seas. The second would break in amoment; the third would swamp the schooner. He roared a warning to theboys and turned the wheel to meet the sea bow on. The big wave fellwith a crash amidships; the schooner stopped and shivered while atorrent of water drove clear over the stern. Bill o' Burnt Bay saw thecrest of the third sea grow white and tower in the night.
"Hang to her!" screamed Archie.
Skipper Bill smiled grimly as the sea came aboard. It broke and sweptpast. He expected no more; but more came--more and still more. Theschooner was now tossing in a boiling pot from which the sprayrose like steam. Bill caught the deep boom of breakers. The _SpotCash_ was somewhere inshore. The water was shallowing. She wasfairly on the rocks. Again Bill shouted a warning to the boys tosave themselves when she struck. He caught sight of a low cliff--ablack shadow above a mass of moving, ghostly white. The schooner waslifted by a great sea and carried forward. Skipper Bill waited forthe shock and thud of her striking. He glanced up at the spars--againscreamed a warning--and stood rigid. On swept the schooner. She wasa long time in the grip of that great wave.
Then she slipped softly out of the rough water into some placid placewhere the wind fluttered gently down from above.
* * * * *
There was a moment of silence and uttermost amazement. The wind hadvanished; the roar of the sea was muffled. The schooner advancedgently into the dark.
"The anchor!" the skipper gasped.
He sprang forward, stumbling; but it was too late: the bowspritcrumpled against a rock, there was a soft thud, a little shock, ascraping, and the _Spot Cash_ stopped dead.
"We're aground," said Bill.
"I wonders where?" said Jimmie Grimm.
"In harbour, anyhow," said Billy Topsail.
"And no insurance!" Archie added.
There was no levity in this. The boys were overawed. They had beenafraid, every one of them; and the mystery of their escape andwhereabouts oppressed them. But they got the anchor over the bow; andpresently they had the cabin stove going and were drying off. Nobodyturned in; they waited anxiously for the first light of day todisclose their surroundings.