Dave Porter in the South Seas; or, The Strange Cruise of the Stormy Petrel
Page 28
CHAPTER XXV
SWEPT ONWARD BY A TIDAL WAVE
"Off at last, and I am glad of it!"
"I suppose you are anxious to get to Nanpi, Dave?"
"I am, Roger. Can you blame me?"
"Not at all. In fact, if I were in your place, I think I'd be even moreanxious. Meeting this Dunston Porter means so much to you," went on thesenator's son.
The two chums were on the forward deck of the _Stormy Petrel_ and thebark was just leaving the harbor of Tolao. It was a clear day, with abright sun high overhead, and the boys felt in excellent spirits.
Nothing had been seen or heard of Jasper Van Blott, and, with thesailing of the bark, he was practically forgotten by Dave and Roger. ButPhil and the captain remembered him and were sorry that they had notbeen able to bring the wicked supercargo to justice.
Although he was in nominal authority, Captain Marshall turned over thecargo books to Phil, and the shipowner's son did very well when it cameto straightening out the tangle left by Van Blott. Phil wished to makea clean report to his father and worked with a will, until he "knewwhere he was at," as he declared.
"I rather think it will open my father's eyes," said Phil. "He hassuspected Van Blott for some time, but he didn't think of anything likethis."
On the second day out the wind died down utterly, and this state ofaffairs continued for several days. The sails flapped idly against themasts, and scarcely any progress was made.
"We are not going to make such a quick passage, after all," remarkedRoger. "My! but this is slow work, I must declare!"
"And haven't you noticed the heat?" added Phil. "It seems to me to beunusually hot."
"It is," said Dave, who had been consulting a thermometer. "This is ourwarmest day, by four degrees. If it gets much warmer, we'll certainlymelt."
That afternoon the sea appeared to be strangely agitated, and towardnight the sailors noticed a large number of dead fish rising to thesurface. Dave discovered a large shark, and this proved to be dead,also.
"There has been some disturbance under the ocean's surface," saidCaptain Marshall. "More than likely an earthquake."
"An earthquake! And we never knew it!" ejaculated Roger, and his toneshowed his disappointment.
In the morning the sea was more agitated than ever. One minute it wouldappear to flatten out, the next, two waves would come together with aclash that sent the spray flying upward for many feet. More dead fishwere in evidence on every hand.
"I have never witnessed anything like this," commented Captain Marshall."I trust it gets no worse."
When the breeze sprang up, it came from the wrong direction, and the_Stormy Petrel_ had to tack as best she could. The breeze kept growingstiffer and stiffer, until it was little short of a gale. Then a thickmist settled down on the ocean, shutting out the view upon all sides.
"I must say I don't like this," observed the senator's son. "Supposingwe should run into something?"
"There isn't much to run into," replied Dave. "I just asked the captain,and he told me we were a good many miles from land of any sort."
"We might run into some other ship."
"There seem to be very few ships in this locality."
Morning found the _Stormy Petrel_ still surrounded by the mist, andthere was now little or no wind. The barometer had gone down, and thecaptain ordered some sail taken in, in anticipation of a storm.
At noon the mist appeared to lift a little, and once more the windsprang up. This continued for several hours, when, of a sudden, astrange humming filled the air.
"What can that be?" cried Dave, who was on the forward deck.
"It's wind!" cried Billy Dill. "A reg'lar tornado, too."
Captain Marshall was on deck, no longer disposed to trust his firstmate. He at once ordered all of the sails taken in and stowed awaysecurely. This was just accomplished, when the hurricane--for it wasnothing less--struck the _Stormy Petrel_, almost sending the bark on herbeam ends.
"Better go below!" shrieked the captain to the three boys. "It's notsafe for you on deck."
"I'll be careful," answered Phil, but the master of the bark shook hishead, and then the three lads started for the companionway, holding onto first one thing and then another as they moved along.
Phil had just reached the bottom of the steps, Roger was half-way down,and Dave still at the top, when a wild cry from the bow reached theirears.
"Hold tight, all of ye!" came in the voice of Billy Dill. "Hold on, orye'll be swept overboard, sure!"
Everybody on board the _Stormy Petrel_ realized that this could be noidle warning, and all held on like grim death to anything that washandy. The next moment there was a strange hissing and pounding of theocean, and, in a twinkling, the _Stormy Petrel_ was caught on whatseemed to be the top of a giant wave and carried along as if in the gripof a demon of the deep!
The upward and forward movement came with such a force that nearlyeverybody was taken clean and clear off his feet, and had not each oneclung fast, as directed by Billy Dill, somebody must surely have beenflung overboard. The bark turned around and around on the top of thewave, and then lurched forward and went on and on, the spray flying sothickly that scarcely a thing of what was beyond could be seen.
"My gracious!" gasped Roger, who had been flung down on top of Phil."What is this?"
"Don't ask me!" returned Dave, who was sitting on the upper step withhis arms entwined around the companionway rail. "I guess it's anearthquake and a hurricane rolled into one."
"Has anybody gone overboard?" asked Phil, as he tried to stand up.
"I don't know. Billy Dill gave the warning."
The door to the cabin was open, and the three lads fairly tumbled intothe compartment. The bark was rocking to such an extent that to standupright was out of the question. Everything that was loose was on thefloor, shifting from one side to the other.
The boys waited with bated breath, and a few minutes later heard a crashon the deck, which told that a topmast, or one of the yards, had comedown. Then came a yell of alarm from one of the sailors.
"We are going to sink! We are going to sink!"
"Did you hear that?" ejaculated Roger. "He said the _Stormy Petrel_ wasgoing to sink!"
"What shall we do?" put in Phil. "I don't want to drown!"
Phil had scarcely spoken when a side door to one of the staterooms burstopen and a man came forth, wild with terror, his face scratched andbleeding. Much to their amazement, they saw it was Jasper Van Blott.
"Is the ship really going down?" cried the former supercargo, in atrembling voice.
"Where did you come from?" cried Dave.
"I--er--I've been in hiding. But, tell me, are we going down?"
"I don't know."
"I--er--I must go on deck and see. It nearly killed me, the bark bouncedaround so," went on Van Blott.
He started for the companionway, but had not yet reached the top when abig wave hit the _Stormy Petrel_ broadside, sweeping the deck from endto end and sending some of the water into the cabin. The formersupercargo was washed off the steps and came down flat on his back,screaming with terror.
The former supercargo was washed off the steps and camedown flat on his back.--_Page 225._]
The boys were nearly as much alarmed, and, as soon as it was possible todo so, all three crawled up to where they could get a view of the deckand the sea beyond.
The outlook was truly startling. The ocean was whipped up into amilk-white foam and was dashing and churning in all directions. Onetremendous wave was rolling straight to the southward, and on this thebark was riding, like a monkey on a runaway race horse. The wind waswhistling through the rigging, and the sky was filled with dark cloudsand a strange, whitish dust.
"What is this?" called Dave to the captain, as the latter passed.
"It's a tidal wave!" yelled back Captain Marshall. "There has beenanother earthquake, and, most likely, some of the volcanoes in thisvicinity have become active."
"Are we going down, as that sail
or said?"
"Not yet. I will warn you, if there is any danger of our sinking."
"You can't put out any small boats, can you?" asked Phil.
"No, a small boat would not live a minute in such a sea as is nowrunning."
"Has anybody been washed overboard?" asked Roger.
"I believe not--but I am not sure. It came on so sudden, we had no timeto prepare for it," said Captain Marshall.
"Mr. Van Blott is below," said Dave.
"Van Blott! You must be dreaming!"
"No. He had been in hiding, and the alarm scared him."
"Humph! Well, we'll take care of him later--if we get out of this with awhole skin."
The boys could do nothing on deck, and so went below again, to find thatthe former supercargo had disappeared.
"It doesn't matter," observed Phil. "We know he is on board, and hecan't get away until we land, and I guess we can root him out beforethat time."
The _Stormy Petrel_ was still being carried forward, but now the motionwas a bit more steady than before. It was true that she had encountereda tidal wave, due to a submarine earthquake, and also true that avolcano on the island of Cholomu had become active. The fine volcanicdust floated for miles over the ocean, covering the bark from stem tostern as with flour.
Half an hour later came another alarm. Somebody roared out: "Breakersahead!" and in a moment more the _Stormy Petrel_ was in the midst of achoppy sea, and staggered from side to side, as if ready to go over.Then came a scraping at the bottom.
"We have struck a reef!" cried the first mate. "We are done for now!"But, even as he spoke, the bark went on, over the reef and into whatseemed to be a large harbor. Far in the distance could be seen apalm-fringed shore, with the waves dashing high up on the sands.
It took Captain Marshall but an instant to consider the situation, andhe immediately gave orders to cast an anchor. The _Stormy Petrel_continued to rush onward, but quarter of a mile from the shore theforward progress was checked. Then another anchor was dropped, and itwas seen that this had secured a good hold. In the meantime the watersof the tidal wave began to recede, and by sunset the ocean was almost ascalm as ever.
"Thank fortune, that peril is a thing of the past!" said Dave,fervently; and the other boys and Captain Marshall echoed hissentiments.