CHAPTER X
HALF A GALE
In an incredibly short space of time a heavy sea was running, and thebig ship, which at its dock had seemed so solid and immovable, wastossed about almost wholly at the will of the angry waves. The bow wouldrise up and up as it met a rushing hill of frothing green water, then,as the giant wave rushed astern, the bow would dip, and the whole vesselwould seem to be coasting down into a frothing valley. Crests of the bigrollers, picked up and flung aboard by the howling wind, drenched anyhardy soul who ventured on deck. Sometimes the bow would not liftquickly enough to an onrushing wave, and the water would crash down onthe forecastle with a tremendous impact and rush aft, sweeping anymovable object along with it.
The engines were throttled down to “half speed ahead,” which eased thelaboring of the vessel somewhat. Night fell early over a wild anddesolate waste of tossing waters, and even the three carefree boys weresobered somewhat as they gazed through tightly bolted portholes at thescene without. Lee was frankly seasick again, and even Bobby and Fredhad to admit that they “felt a little off.”
“But anyway, a storm like this isn’t likely to last long,” remarkedBobby. “It came up in a hurry, and likely will go down just as fast.”
“It can’t go too fast to suit me,” groaned Lee, “‘A life on the rollingdeep’ may be all right for some people, but it rolls entirely too muchto be popular with me.”
“Not to mention how deep it is when the ship happens to sink,” saidFred. “Whether we like it or not, we’ve got to admit that the man whowrote that poetry knew what he was talking about.”
“Well, it’s time for supper, and I’m going to have some,” said Bobby.“What do you say, fellows? Are you with me?”
“Guess you’ll have to count me out,” replied the boy from the South. “Idon’t think food and I will ever be friends again.”
Bobby and Fred managed to satisfy their appetites, although the dishespersisted in dodging here and there in a most disconcerting manner, andnever seemed to be satisfied until they had settled themselvescomfortably in some one’s lap. Most of the passengers were keeping totheir staterooms, and taken altogether, the meal was not exactly acheerful affair. All three of the boys turned into their berths soonafterward, and by dint of wedging themselves in with pillows and rolledup articles of clothing, managed to get a fairly good night’s rest.
In the morning the wind appeared to have blown itself out, and as theboys were dressing a weak and watery shaft of sunlight came streamingthrough the porthole.
“That certainly looks good to me,” said Lee, who still looked ratherpale and unhappy. “If ever I get back on dry land, I’m going to staythere a while.”
“It won’t feel bad for a change,” admitted Fred, “and with a little luckwe ought to make it in another day or two. We’d have gotten in withoutthis delay if it hadn’t been for the storm.”
After breakfast the boys went on deck, and found the ocean muchmoderated, although still far from calm. After a little, they foundthemselves near the door of the wireless room, and were soon chattingwith the operator on duty, who seemed to be a genial sort of fellow. Heand the boys were soon on the best of terms, and he explained theworkings of some of the simpler parts of the apparatus.
“I suppose a night like last night keeps you fellows pretty busy,doesn’t it?” inquired Bobby.
“Yes, we have to be right on the job,” answered Quinn, the wirelessoperator, “although last night wasn’t as bad as many I’ve been through.We didn’t get an S. 0. S. call once.”
“From the way this ship was acting,” said Lee, ruefully, “I should thinkit would be more likely that we would be sending a call for help insteadof receiving it.”
“Why, that wasn’t any more than a brisk breeze compared to some of theblows I’ve been through,” said Quinn. “I remember one night on the NorthSea when it really did blow some. And as far as that goes, I’m willingto bet that everybody else on that ship remembers it, too.”
“Was it so very bad, then?” inquired Bobby.
“Well, at that time I was doing duty on a converted yacht. We wereguarding a convoy, and one by one the other patrol boats made for port,being unable to stay out any longer. But our captain refused to give up,and finally we were the only boat left. Well, the wind kept blowingharder and the seas rising, until the only wonder is that we weren’tswamped altogether. Tremendous seas were following us, and at last onemonster came right aboard over the after rail. It slammed up against thewireless shack, and before we knew what had happened, we and the shackwere carried bodily forward. We thought that our last minute had come,but, luckily for us, the wireless house was slammed up against theforward deck house. Then it went to pieces entirely. I made a grab forthe first thing my hand met, which happened to be a mast stay, and hungon for all I knew how. It seemed to me that I was under water for anage, but the big wave finally passed, and I crawled back to the deckmore dead than alive. Yes, that was a real rough night at sea, I’lladmit.”
“How about the other wireless men?” queried Fred. “Did they come throughall right?”
“Well, by a miracle neither was swept overboard, but Pearsall, who hadjust joined the ship a week or two before, broke his right arm. But heconsidered himself lucky to be alive at all. We all did, for thatmatter.”
“I should think you would be,” said Bobby, “and I suppose you had plentyof other narrow escapes besides that one.”
“Plenty is right,” assented Quinn, “Why, I remember one winter afternoonwe got an S.O.S. from a munition ship that had caught fire. It was someeighty miles to the west of us, and by the time we reached it, it wasright on the edge of dark. When we got there, the fire was at itsheight. Most of their boats had been wrecked by the explosions ofammunition as the fire reached it, and most of the crew were in thewater, some with life preservers, and others clinging to bits offloating wreckage. It was like going through a barrage to get near them.But we lowered our boats and finally got the last man safely aboard.Then we steamed away at a rate the old hooker had never hit up before,because we knew that when the fire reached the main hold there would bea blowup that would pretty well clean everything that happened to bearound right off the water. And we weren’t a bit too soon either,because we hadn’t covered more than half a mile when the blazing wreckexploded with a slam that you could hear for fifty miles. As it was, wewere pretty well shaken up, but got off without any serious damage. Butit was pretty ticklish business while we were cruising round a cable’slength away, picking the crew out of the water.”
Bobby Blake on a Plantation; Or, Lost in the Great Swamp Page 10