The Boy Chums Cruising in Florida Waters

by Frances Trego Montgomery

  CHAPTER XXIV.

  THE ACCIDENT.

  BOTH Charley and Walter had by this time become quite familiar withtheir little engine and when trouble with it occurred, as it sometimesdid, it generally took them but a short time to locate what was wrongand fix it.

  They had covered perhaps half the distance back to the inlet when thesteady throb, throb of the engine changed suddenly to a whirling roar.Charley hastily threw the switch, shutting off the spark, and the bigfly wheel instantly ceased its wild revolutions.

  "Something has come loose," he announced. "Hand me that wrench, Walt.The shaft must have come loose to make the engine turn up at thatspeed."

  His chum handed him the desired tool and the lad raised up the falseflooring in the launch's bottom which hid the shaft from view.

  What he expected to find was that one of the screws which fastened thepropeller shaft had come loose and needed tightening, but what he sawfilled his face with dismay. Rising, he stepped back to the stern andpeered over under the launch's counter.

  "Our propeller's gone," he announced, straightening up. "That leavesus in a pretty fix--five miles from shore. We'll have to take some ofthese bottom boards and paddle in, and it's going to be slow, hardwork."

  "I wonder how it happened," said Walter, as he fell to work with aheavy board for a paddle.

  "It didn't happen. It was just done," his chum said, grimly. "Evidentlyour friend Hunter got home before we expected him. He must have done itlast night when we were all asleep."

  "Are you sure?" inquired Captain Westfield.

  "As sure as a person can be who did not actually see it done. The shaftwas sawn three-fourths in two. The cut part is bright, showing that itwas done recently. It was a clever trick all right. You see, it wouldnot give way immediately but would wear in two, gradually, where it wascut. I guess he was in hopes it would break with us out in a seawaywhere we couldn't do anything. Luckily, it's happened when it is calmand we are not such a great ways from shore."

  But although the distance to shore was not so very great, it did nottake them long to realize that it was going to take them a long time tocover it. The launch was deep and heavy in the water and with theirrude, heavy, ungainly paddles they could only force her forward veryslowly.

  "It's going to be after dark when we reach the inlet," the captainsaid, anxiously. "I do not believe we are making over half a mile anhour."

  Indeed, they were not making as good progress as that, for whendark settled down upon the water, they were a full three miles fromshore and their arms and backs were beginning aching with the steadystrain of wielding the heavy boards. Soon after the sun set, the windcommenced to freshen and the launch began to bob and drift about in away to discourage further effort.

  "It's no use trying any longer," Charley declared, at last. "We are notgetting ahead any and are just wearing ourselves out for nothing."

  "We might as well put over the anchor and make up our minds to stayhere all night," the captain agreed.

  Walter dropped over the anchor and let out all the cable. "There isn'tany too much rope," he announced, doubtfully. "The water's deep here. Iguess, though, it will hold all right if it does not blow any harder."

  So far there was nothing very alarming in the situation. The launchrode easily and high, shipping no water, and they knew that if it werenot at their dock in the morning the Roberts boys would notice theirabsence and be out looking for them. They had a couple of jugs of freshwater aboard, and there was enough of their dinner remaining to makea substantial lunch. This Chris now brought out and all ate heartily,their appetites whetted by the hard work they had done.

  As soon as they had finished, Charley brought out a lot of old sacksthey had in a locker and spread them out in the little cabin. "Early tobed, early to rise," he quoted cheerfully. "I guess we might as wellturn in. There is nothing to sit up for."

  They were all tired enough to agree to this and they all laid down,side by side. The launch's high sides and little cabin protected themfrom the wind and they were quite comfortable. Walter and Chris werealmost instantly asleep, and Charley was just on the verge of droppingoff when a movement of the captain roused him. He raised up and lookedaround.

  The old sailor had arisen and was standing out in the cockpit gazing atthe sky.

  The lad crept out softly and joined him.

  "What's the matter, Captain?" he inquired, anxiously.

  "I don't just like the feel of this weather," said the old sailor,uneasily. "The wind is freshening all the time although it's doing itso slowly one hardly notices it. I am afraid we are in for more than acap full of wind."

  "I don't think so," Charley disagreed. "Why, the sky is as clear as abell all around. There's not a sign of a cloud."

  "I hope you are right. It don't always take clouds to make a wind,though, lad. Some of the worst gales I ever saw came out of a clearsky."

  "If it comes on to blow hard we will not be able to hang at anchor,"Charley said, thoughtfully, impressed by the old sailor's uneasiness.

  "No, the anchor won't hold in this deep water," agreed the sailor."Even if it did catch on a ledge of rock and keep from dragging, wewould have to cut loose if the sea ran high. With one short cable itwould help to pull our bows under."

  "What direction do you think will the gale come from, if it comes atall?" the lad inquired.

  "From the same quarter the wind's blowing now," the captain replied,promptly. "That's the only good feature about a clear gale, the windnever shifts or varies but blows steady from one point."

  "Let's see," said Charley, considering. "It's blowing from thenorth-west now. That would neither drive us ashore nor out to sea, butstraight down the coast."

  "We might hit some of the capes or cays way down the coast if thelaunch lasted to drift that far," said the old sailor.

  "Well," said Charley, philosophically, "if it comes, it comes. If itdoesn't, it doesn't. We can't do any good by sitting up worrying andwatching for it, so I am going to turn in."

  He crept softly in and laid down by Walter and was soon fast asleep.

  He was suddenly wakened out of a sound slumber by being thrown againstthe launch's side with a force which knocked the breath from his body.He tried to rise to his feet but was flung violently to the other side.Then on hands and knees, like an infant, he crawled out of the littlecabin.

  Once in the open, it took him but a second to grasp what had happened.

  The launch had parted her cable and was now rolling helplessly in thetrough of the seas which were now running high. In the darkness, hecould just distinguish the captain in the bow. With difficulty, owingto the violent lurching and plunging, he crept forward to his side.

  The old sailor was working frantically to rig up a sea anchor withwhich to bring the launch's bow up in the wind.

  "Get me some of those bottom boards, and tear up some of the lockers,too, if you can break them loose," he commanded. "We will need everystick we can get to hold her bows to the seas."

  The lad crept aft and soon returned with an armful of boards he hadtorn loose. Returning again for more, he met Walter and Chris, who,also rudely awakened from their slumber, had made their way out of thecabin. With their assistance, all the loose boards they could get weresoon carried up to the captain who, as fast as they were brought, boundthem firmly with rope into one solid bundle.

  "There ought to be more, but perhaps these will do," said the oldsailor, as he fastened the last plank to its fellows.

  He pulled in the trailing end of the severed cable, and, making it fastto the bundle of planks, shoved them over the bow. Then all three creptback aft and anxiously awaited results.

  For some minutes, they feared that their labors had been in vain, then,slowly, the launch's bow swung around to meet the seas and she rose andfell easily without the sickening lurching from side to side.

  "All's well, so far," the captain announced, "but this is only thebeginning. It has hardly commenced to blow yet. She can ride out theseseas all ri
ght, but if this wind keeps on increasing, by morning therewill be seas that are seas."

  The boys glanced around at the watery mountains tumbling about them anddecided that they cared not to see any bigger.

  The wild plunging of the launch made sleep impossible and the fourhuddled together in the little cockpit wondering if day would find themalive or swallowed up by the hungry waters.

  As the hours crept slowly by, they could not doubt that the windwas steadily rising. The seas grew steadily in size and the launch'spitching became wilder and wilder. Accustomed as they all were to thesea, the violent plunging gave them a feeling of nausea closely akin toseasickness. To add to their discomfort, the madly plunging launch sentup showers of spray which the wind drove in upon them soaking them tothe skin and stinging their faces like hail.

  "She would not float a minute if we were out in the open gulf," thecaptain observed. "As it is, we are drifting down the coast in betweenthe reef and the shore and the reef breaks some of the force of theseas. A little shift of the wind and we would either be driven out overthe reef or upon a rock shore."

  "Cheery prospect either way we look at it," Charley said, grimly."Heads we win, tails we lose."

  No one was in any mood for further conversation. Wet, miserable,wretched and anxious, they huddled close together in the little cockpitand waited longingly for the coming of day.

  At last, a gray light spread over the rolling waters and grew brighterand brighter till finally the sun peeped slowly into view.

  It came up grandly in a blue sky unflecked by clouds, revealing a scenewilder than they had imagined in the blackness of the night.