Four Afloat: Being the Adventures of the Big Four on the Water

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER XV--TELLS OF ADVENTURES IN THE FOG

  Five minutes later, having learned with bewilderment that the repast onthe table was luncheon instead of a late breakfast, Tom was seated witha plate before him and doing noble work. His countenance looked muchmore cheerful. And as he ate he recounted the tale of his morning'sadventures.

  "I don't know where I was," said Tom. "I guess, though, I was abouteverywhere. I got started wrong when I left the boat. I rowed over thatway, toward the wharf, and kept looking around for----"

  "That's where you made your mistake," said Bob. "The tide turned thelaunch around and you started in just the opposite direction from whatyou thought. I'll bet you didn't find the wharf?"

  "Gee! I thought for a while I was never going to find anything. I keptrowing and rowing, easy, you know, so as not to bump anything, andwondering why I didn't get to the shore. And then I was bothered aboutnot finding any boats, because I knew there were two or three rightbetween us and the steamboat wharf. Well, after about ten minutes I gotsort of scared; thought perhaps I'd got turned around and was rowing outto sea. So I stopped and listened, but I couldn't hear anything except awagon somewhere in one direction and an engine whistle away off in theopposite direction. I didn't know whether there was a railroad on theisland or not. Is there?"

  "I don't think so," said Nelson. "There's one on Nantucket, though."

  "What he probably heard," said Bob, "was the train across on themainland. That would be only about six miles."

  "Well," continued Tom, "I didn't know where it was and so I decided tomake toward where the wagon seemed to be. So I turned half around andstarted off in a new direction. I guess I rowed a quarter of an hour anddidn't see a thing or hear anything. Then I stopped and rested. Ithought if I could only see which way the current was running I'd knowwhere the mouth of the harbor was, because I was sure that the tidewould be running out."

  "That was right," said Nelson.

  "Yes, but there wasn't any way to tell. I could only see for about fouror five feet around the tender and the water was like a looking-glass.Then, while I was resting, I heard some one shout: 'Hi, Cap'n Joe!' Itsounded almost behind me and it startled me so I pretty near dropped theoars. So I shouted back and turned the boat around again. But I didn'tget any answer. So I began to row. Then I saw the shore ahead and when Igot close I looked for a place to land. But all there was was a highwharf set on slippery spilings and no ladder anywhere. So I kept alongthe wharf for a long old ways, turned a corner and bumped into the sternof a coal barge. I edged the tender around that and found a fellowsitting on the gunwale fishing. So I asked him--Is there any more bread,Bob?"

  "You asked him what?" exclaimed Bob.

  "Get out! Cut me another slice of bread, like a good fellow. I asked himwhere the steamboat wharf was. And what do you think he did? Pointedover his shoulder, mind you, and said it was two miles! Then, thinks I,I've rowed around the point and this is Cottage City where the cottagesare. 'What place is this?' I asked him. 'Vineyard Haven,' says he. Well,I didn't know any more then, so I told him where I wanted to go and allabout it. He was a nice chap, if his face was all over coal dust, and hetold me that I was near a place called West Chop and that what I wantedwas Eastville and that it was up the harbor and across. So I asked himthen if there was a grocery store around there, and he said there wasone about a quarter of a mile up the harbor. So I thanked him andstarted off again, keeping right up snug to the shore. And after I'dgone about a quarter of a mile, as I reckoned it, I made a landing at anold wharf and set out to find the grocery.

  "It was like walking in the dark, because I couldn't see more than adozen feet ahead of me. Once I came pretty near going through a hole inthe pier. But pretty soon I found a building of some sort and walkedaround it and found a road. But there wasn't a soul to be seen. So Ikept on going for quite a ways, and then I remembered that if I didn'tlook out I'd never find the tender again. So I turned around and startedback. And pretty soon I saw that I'd lost my way. But I found thegrocery. There were two or three stores there and some houses. I went inand bought a pound of butter. I'd have got more but I didn't know howgood it would be. I suppose it's pretty poor, isn't it?"

  "No," answered Dan promptly, "it's great; nice and salty."

  "Then I asked the old idiot in the store if he knew of a broken-downwharf around there; said I'd left my boat at it and couldn't find it. Helooked at me as though he thought I was crazy and said most of thewharves around there were broken down, but maybe the one I meant was thesecond one to the north. So I tried again and found it right away. Ididn't know what time it was, because I didn't have my watch and I'dforgotten to ask. I tried to remember the direction the fellow on thecoal barge had pointed, but I guess I got it wrong, for after I'd roweda long time without finding anything except a log of wood I wasn't nearany land at all, as far as I could make out. I couldn't see anything andI couldn't hear anything except little sounds way off. I took a restthen, for I was dead tired and beastly hungry. I guess the tenderfloated out with the tide, for the first thing I knew I was looking upat three fellows leaning over the bow of a big sailing vessel.

  "'Hello, kid,' says one of them. 'Hello,' says I, looking kind ofsurprised, I guess. 'Was you looking for any one?' he asked. I told himyes, I was looking for the _Vagabond_. 'Oh, he means you, Gus,' says thefirst fellow, and the three of them laughed and had a fine time aboutit. So I explained that the _Vagabond_ was a launch and that she waslying off the steamboat wharf. 'Oh, that's it, eh?' says one of thesailors. 'Well, you want to strike right across there, kiddie,' and hepointed behind him. But I didn't like the grin on his face and suspectedhe was having fun with me. So I told him I hoped he'd choke and startedoff in the opposite direction. I think now," Tom went on to anaccompaniment of laughter from the others, "that maybe he told thetruth. Anyhow, the way I went didn't take me to any steamboat wharf!"

  "I rowed for a long while; I don't know how long it was; it's mightyhard to tell out there in the fog. And pretty soon I saw something offto the left and made for it. It was a stone pier with a ladder down it.I thought then that I'd got across the harbor at last and I decided I'dtie the boat up and try to find you fellows on foot. Well, I walked aminute or two and came to a back door. I could see that it was the doorof a little store of some sort, so I went in. And where do you suppose Iwas?"

  "Wanamaker's?" asked Dan.

  "Give it up," said Bob.

  "I was in the same little old dive where I'd bought the butter. The oldcodger looked at me sort of suspicious and I made believe I'd come backon purpose. He wanted to know if I'd found my boat and I told him yes.Then I asked if he had any crackers and cheese. He had crackers but hischeese was all gone, he said. So I bought a nickel's worth ofcrackers--stale old things they were, too--and a box of sardines. I'll betthose sardines had been there ten years! But I ate them. Wish I hadn't.I asked the man how to get to the steamboat wharf and he tried to tellme. Said if I started out from where my boat was and kept a little northof east I'd get there. I asked a fellow outside a place where they soldoilskins and he said about the same thing. So I hunted up my boat,starting from the back door of the grocery, you know, and found it allright. Then----"

  "Maybe you pull on one oar harder than the other, Tommy," suggested Dan."Do you?"

  "I don't know. Maybe I do. I suppose that would account for my gettingback to that old grocery shop. Well, off I went again. And you can betthat by that time my arms were aching!" Tom rubbed and stretched themnow as though in proof of the assertion. "I rowed about ten minutes, Iguess, and came to a beach. Well, that was a new one to me. I didn'tknow where the dickens I was, and I don't yet."

  "I do," said Bob, who had spread the chart out on the corner of thetable. "You were here somewhere."

  "That's right," said Tom, looking over his shoulder, "because I jumpedout, pulled the boat up and looked around. And on the other side of theroad was a marshy place and a lot more water all along. I didn't knowwhich way the road would take me, so I wen
t back and pushed off again.By that time those sardines had begun to swim around inside of me and Igot kind of squirmy. After a minute I heard a whistle and I thought itwas the _Vagabond's_. I listened and it sounded five times. Then, aftera while, it sounded five again."

  "Yes," said Nelson; "one, two--one, two, three; twenty-three for you,Tommy."

  "Was that it? It sounded to me like T, o,--m, m, y! T, o,--m, m, y!Anyhow, I started out for it but it was hard to tell just where it was.And after I'd been pulling about ten minutes or so I had to quit.The--the sardines weren't satisfied where they were. I was as sick as adog for a while, and afterward I laid down in the bottom of the boat anddidn't care whether I ever found you fellows or not. Every now and thenI'd hear the whistle. And then I went to sleep. When I woke up I wasstiff and the water was just running off me. I was sure then that thetide had taken me out to sea and I was scared blue. So I turned the boatright around and rowed in the opposite direction. After a bit I heardoars and shouted out. A man answered and I asked him where the steamboatwharf was. 'Over there about two or three hundred feet,' said he. But Icouldn't see, him and I didn't know where 'over there' was. So I askedhim to wait until I reached him. He was a young fellow in a fishing doryfilled with lobster pots. I told him I was looking for the _Vagabond_and he said he'd just passed her and that if I'd follow him he'd showher to me. So I did. And we went about thirty or forty strokes, I guess,and found her. And here I am. And if any one wants to go for a row theboat's out there. I'm going to stay right here until the fog goes away.Is there any more tea, Bob?"

  "No, but I'll make you some," was the answer. "It won't take a minute."

  "Well, you certainly had the time of your life," said Dan with a grin."You always were lucky, Tom. If it had been me I'd have been miles outin Nantucket Sound by this time."

  "There ought to be a compass in that tender," said Nelson. "And I'mgoing to get one for it."

  "Well, it won't do any harm," remarked Bob from the engine room, "butit's an easy bet that none of us is going to go out in her again in thefog."

  "I'm plumb sure I'm not," sighed Tom. "After I get that cup of tea I'mgoing to hit my bunk and take a nap."

  And he did, sleeping most of the afternoon, while Bob and Dan playedcards and Nelson busied himself at the engine. The wiring hadn'tsatisfied him of late and so he put in new connections all over and hada nice, messy time of it. About half-past four the fog lifted somewhatand by six was almost gone. A cool breeze blew down from the north andin the west the sun set in a pool of orange and vermilion. The Fourdoffed oilskins and sweaters and got into respectable attire, and athalf-past six went ashore for dinner.

  In the evening they played Five Hundred until nearly ten o'clock, atwhich time Tom was seventeen hundred and something in the hole.Whereupon he said he was going to bed and in proof of the assertiontossed the cards into Dan's bunk, where they spread themselves outartistically from top to bottom. Dan was for forcing Tom to pick themup, and during the fracas following Nelson and Bob made things shipshapefor the night. Then the riot was quelled and, after reciting the "Dirgeof the Salt Codfish," Tom and Dan consented to retire.

  Once, hours later, Bob awoke with the notion that some one had calledhim. But what he had heard was only Tom talking in his dreams.

  "I have lost my ticket," said Tom very distinctly, "but I wish to go toSteamboat Wharf."