Boy Scouts on Hudson Bay; Or, The Disappearing Fleet

by G. Harvey Ralphson

  CHAPTER XX.

  BESIEGED.

  The two scouts hurried away to execute the orders of their chief. Theywere so accustomed to having Ned tell them what to do that any commandhe might give was always cheerfully carried out.

  The balance of the party remained there where they could command thebreak in the stern of the wreck, and which the enemy had once vainlyattempted to rush. If presently another attack were made they would bein position to pour down a hot fire on the assailants; and perhapstaking pattern by Jimmy, the rest of the defenders might begin to givewounds that would gradually put the miners out of the game.

  Before three minutes had passed Ned and those with him heard atremendous row going on down the deck. This was followed by a greatscrambling, and then came a loud splash.

  "Say, they must have found one of the three sneaks!" exclaimed Teddy,jubilantly.

  "Here comes Jack now to report," added Frank.

  Jack was breathing hard, but chuckling at the same time, as he came up.

  "I have the honor to report, sir, that we discovered a spy aboard, andmade him walk the plank," he started in to say, with all the airs of asecond officer aboard a liner, giving in his account of dutiesperformed. "He didn't want to make the jump but Jimmy helped him overthe side, while I covered him and kept his hands up. We've lookedeverywhere now, and think he was the only one that stayed aboard."

  "I hope you didn't drown the fellow, Jack," said Ned.

  "Small danger of that," laughed the other; "where he fell the water wasonly a few feet deep, even with a wave rolling in. He's ashore longbefore now, and can report how we do things aboard the Old Reliable.Anything else you want done, sir, while we've got our hands in?"

  "Nothing but keep an eye out for any creeper along the sides. They maythink to try it over again," Ned told him.

  "And next time perhaps we'll do something worse than tossing the fellowoverboard," Jack declared. "I half believe that scoundrel meant to do usan ugly turn. Why, he had a wicked looking knife in his hand just whenwe cornered him, and even raised it as if meaning to strike, when Iknocked it out of his grasp with the barrel of my gun, and then Jimmyjumped on him like a monkey."

  "A good job all around," was Ned's comment; "and it ought to show theseparties that we mean what we say. I'm only hoping they'll get sick ofthe business and conclude to let us alone. That is all we ask of them,to keep their hands off, and allow us to pull out."

  "Small chance of that happening, I'm afraid," Jack went on to say. "Ifwe get away from here it'll be because we've gone and licked the lotof them, as Jimmy was remarking, out of their boots. I say that, becausewe know what it would mean to this fake concern to let the story of themine get to New York City."

  After that for a while everything seemed very quiet. Watch as they mightthey could see nothing of the enemy on the beach below. The waves creptup higher, as the tide came in, and the sound of their curling over witha long roll grew more and more boisterous; but ashore all seemed assilent as death.

  "You don't think then they've had enough of fight, and gone away, eh,Ned?" was what Teddy asked, as he crept to where the patrol leaderstood, looking over the bulwarks, and keenly on the alert.

  "Not a bit of it, Teddy," came the prompt reply. "You ought to know thatmen like that give up only as the tiger does, grudgingly. They've feltof our claws, and found that we can scratch; so next time they'll tryand work some other sort of game that may pay them better."

  "I don't see how it can be done," urged Teddy. "If there were any treesoverhanging our fortress I might begin to think they'd climb up, and tryto drop in on us. And so far as we know they haven't got an aeroplane totake the place of the same trees. They can only make a charge throughthat gap in the stern and we're able to guard that, all right, ain't we,Ned?"

  "It seems so," the other told him; "but you mustn't be too sure aboutthere being no other way of getting aboard. We might have said thatbefore, and yet there was the dangling rope that three of them climbed.Now, there may be another route; and while we don't know about it, theonly way to make sure is to keep on the alert every minute of the time."

  Possibly half an hour passed in this way. The strain was beginning totell on some of the boys, for they felt that it was necessary to keepkeyed up to a high tension all the time. They did not know at whatmoment loud yells would indicate that the battle had been resumed andunder new conditions.

  "Whew! and to think that we've just got to keep this up all night long,"Teddy lamented, as he shifted from one foot to the other, for, as hesaid, they were trying to play tricks with him, by going to sleep onpost.

  "Yes, and mebbe a whole lot longer," Jimmy told him; "because, while Ihaven't been saying much about the same, I'm of the opinion that Ned hitthe right nail on the head when he said they'd try to starve us out. Oh!I could stand nearly anything, but to go hungry. I've often thoughtthat would be my wind-up some of these fine days, to starve to death.And I can't imagine a more terrible fate."

  "Enough for two decent meals in the larder yet, Jimmy," said Frank. "Andbefore we get to the jumping-off place, we'll make a move out of this,let me tell you. I think you'll be able to eat your three meals a daythis long while yet."

  "Well, it's kind of you to say so, Frank," Jimmy went on; "but just nowI was thinking how neat we could give these fellers the slip, if only wehad a boat of some sort. There's plenty of water at the bow, with thetide still comin' in like fun. My kingdom for a boat; any old hooker'ddo to fill the bill, because we ain't particular."

  "Could we manage to make a raft, do you think?" asked Teddy.

  "There's plenty of loose stuff around," Ned remarked; "but while a boatmight help us out, I don't think we could do anything with a clumsyraft, even if we had a chance to launch the same, without being foundout. I had considered whether we might get overboard at the bow and makeoff up the shore, but the chances of being discovered seemed too great."

  "And besides we'd be apt to get our guns wet, and that might keep usfrom using the same, when they were badly needed," Jack suggested. "Soit seems as though we'll have to give up the idea of leaving the fort bythe water door."

  This started them to canvassing the whole situation over again, andseveral ingenious schemes were proposed. Unfortunately, on enteringdeeper into the same, they showed weakness in one particular or another,so that all of them had to be cast aside.

  What made it doubly irritating was the knowledge that if they waiteduntil the dawn came, their position would be doubly dangerous, sincethey might not even show themselves along the side of the wreck, withoutinviting a shot. As to escaping, it was not to be thought of while thesun remained above the horizon.

  "We've got to do something to-night, that's flat!" urged Teddy, possiblyin the hope that Ned might have a plan of his own, which he was holdingback, just to ascertain what his chums could do along those lines.

  "I've got a hunch that they're nearly ready to give us another whirl,"Jimmy was remarking, as he leaned over the rail of the vessel, as thoughto see better.

  "What makes you say that?" questioned Jack.

  "There's a suspicious movement below that makes me believe some of thebog-trotters are creeping along close beside the boat. I think they musthave come out of the water, where it slaps up against the wreck. Rightdown underneath us they are, Ned. If I had a kettle of scaldin' water, Icould start the biggest yelping chorus ye ever heard right now."

  A few sharp words from Ned put them all on the alert. Each one had astation assigned to him, which he was expected to hold, in case of arenewal of hostilities; while Jimmy might bemoan the fact that he couldnot have a bucket of boiling water with which to startle the intendedboarders, he evidently did not intend to let that deficiency keep himfrom doing his duty. Crouching there at a point where he could firethrough the breach in the stern of the wreck, he only waited for theword to be given, when he evidently meant to start some others among theenemy to limping on one leg.

  "Gee!" Jack heard him saying softly to himself, with a chuc
kle,"wouldn't it be a funny thing now, if we went and crippled the wholeshooting match, by tapping every one in the left leg. Think of howthey'd go hobbling around here, like a bunch of old pensioners comin'after their money. Watch my smoke, now, and see how I fix 'em."

  When everything was prepared in this way it made the boys nervous towait, for minutes passed and nothing happened. All the while they wereimagining the enemy creeping up the sides of the old hulk, grimly benton doing them injury.

  Ned passed from one point to another, trying to discover just what kindof peril it might be that menaced them. Did the miners have some way ofspringing on board at a given signal, so that they might attack from allsides at once?

  When a full hour had gone and still there was no attack, Ned began towonder if after all any assault had been intended. Surely these men knewby now that those on board the wreck were well armed, and that theycould hardly hope to carry the fort by assault. Perhaps they had come tothe wise conclusion that there was a far better means at their disposalthan bloodshed. Famine could accomplish what violence failed to do.All they had to figure on was keeping the scouts there just so long,when, lacking food and fresh water, they must give in.

  After the chances for another desperate charge through the breach hadbegun to grow fainter, Ned started to figuring again how he might gethis comrades and himself out of so uncomfortable a scrape.

  As Jimmy had said, since they had no airship, they could not fly in thatway; and lacking boats, the sea offered no solution to the puzzle. Allthat was left then, apparently, was the land, with those fierce foeslying in wait to attack them the minute they quitted their fortress.

  Ned believed that he had the most difficult problem to solve that hadcome his way this many a day. From every side he viewed it, the puzzleseemed as unanswerable as ever. If only they could manage to slip awayalong about an hour or so after midnight, when the darkness was densest;but there was only the one way to leave, and that was evidently watchedclosely, if those silent figures flitting hither and thither on thebeach stood for anything.

  But was the breach the only means for leaving? Ned remembered that thosethree men had climbed aboard through the aid of a dangling rope. Whatwas sauce for the goose might be sauce for the gander, too; and if onlythey could discover more rope they might also slide down it to safety.

  He moved over to where Jimmy was squatted like a big toad, with his gunresting on his knee, and aimed straight at the frowning breach in thestern.

  "You told us about those three men climbing aboard by means of a ropethat was dangling over the side; am I right, Jimmy?" he asked.

  "Just what they did, sir," came the reply.

  "You didn't leave that rope there, did you?" continued Ned.

  "I should say not," Jimmy answered with emphasis. "Jack pulled it up ondeck, after I'd helped the feller make his getaway jump."

  "And you think it's there still?" the patrol leader asked.

  "Must be, unless somebody's been and gone and cut it loose to throw itoverboard," was the answer Jimmy made. "But what's a rope got to dowith us now, Ned? Want it to string up one of the dubs in case we getour hooks on the same? Now, that might be a good scheme. It'd sure warn'em that we meant business, and didn't expect to stand for anyfoolishness."

  "Well, you've guessed wrong that time, because it wasn't hanging I hadin mind, Jimmy!" declared Ned. "I was only trying to figure what chancewe'd have to get away, if later on in the night, one by one, we managedto drop down by means of that rope."

  "Gee! that is an idea, now, Ned. And say, it'd give us a chance to skipout in the dark. Once clear of this pack, we could do some huntin' andlay in a stock of meat. Oh! I hope you can make it work, Ned. Looks likeit might be our last hope, don't it?"

  "I've been thinking right along, and, so far, it's the only idea I'vestruck; but we couldn't dream of starting for some hours yet. So keep onthe watch, and don't let the enemy rush us."

  "Count on me to hold 'em in check," said Jimmy, with a touch of his oldboastfulness. "I'm Leander at the Bridge, or Leonidas holding that passat Thermopylae. I'm here like a rock and can't be budged. Oh! you muttsdown there, I'm sorry for the feller that tries to run the gauntlet ofmy fire; because my finger's on the trigger all the while, and justitchin' to press harder."

  Thinking to make sure about that rope, on which it now seemed so muchmight depend, the patrol leader passed on down the slanting deck of thestranded old hulk.

  He met some one coming from the other end of the wreck; and it turnedout to be Frank, who, on finding out that he had run upon Ned, took holdof his sleeve.

  "Come down here with me," he said, "I want you to see something."

  Curious to know what the other scout meant, Ned readily accompanied him;but in passing the place where Jack and Jimmy had met with theiradventure, he made sure that the rope was still where the former hadtossed it after drawing it up.

  "There, what d'ye think of that?" asked Frank.

  He was pointing out toward the great bay, as he said this; and, looking,Ned discovered that the last of the sea fog and mist had cleared away,leaving the air as clear as a bell. Far away over the water he sawseveral strange lights. They seemed to rise and fall in a mysteriousfashion; and yet Ned knew that there was nothing at all queer aboutthis.

  "The phantom fleet at anchor!" said Frank, and it was hard to tell fromhis manner whether he meant all his words implied or not.

  "Yes," said Ned, soberly, "whatever those vessels are, they might helpus out of this scrape, if only we could get in communication with them,"and he stood there for some time, staring reflectively out toward thetwinkling lights on the swelling sea.