CHAPTER III
A WELCOME REFUGE
The change of course had not been effected without shipping aconsiderable amount of water as the boat hung for a moment in the wind.Bill and Teddy bailed desperately, and an instant later the _Ariel_was heading in a new direction. The wind now, instead of striking hersail at an angle, was following directly over the stern, and the littlecraft fairly flew. The power of the wind made her careen at a dangerousangle, and Bill and Teddy had to climb up on the further side to keepher from capsizing.
It was perilous sailing, but the bite of the salt spray on their cheeksand the swift pace at which they were moving filled the boys with wildexhilaration. They might have been four young Vikings out on a voyage ofdiscovery, as they faced and dared the storm.
"See how she foots it through the water!" exclaimed Lester. "Isn't she abeauty?"
"You bet she is!" responded Teddy with enthusiasm. "I don't wonder thatsailors get so fond of their boats that they'd rather go down with themthan live without them."
"I can't say that I've got so far as that," laughed Lester. "But I'msure I'd feel as bad about losing the _Ariel_ as you boys would ifyou lost Star and Colonel."
"You'd feel mighty bad then," responded Teddy, as he thought of thehorses that he and Fred had brought with them from the West.
At this moment, his attention was attracted by a movement on the part ofthe boy they had rescued. They had sheltered him as much they could, butthey could not prevent an occasional dash of spray from striking hisface and this had hastened his awakening. This time, his eyes werelighted with intelligence, and it was clear that he had largelyrecovered from the effect of his immersion.
Teddy bent over toward him.
"How are you feeling?" he asked with a friendly smile.
"Better," was the response in a faint voice. "I can't remember yet,though, just what happened to me."
"A big wave threw you overboard," broke in Bill. "We happened to becruising near by, and we picked you up."
"I guess I must have hit my head against something when I went over,"said the stranger. "I don't remember a thing that happened while I wasin the water. Did I swim?"
"You seemed to be swimming a little," said Teddy, "but I guess it wasmore instinct than anything else. You went down before we got to you.But you'd better not talk any more just now. We'll be on shore beforelong I hope, and then we'll tell you all about it."
"There's the shore now," called out Bill in accents of relief, as hepointed to a long dark line ahead of them.
On the right it seemed to be sandy and level, but a little to the leftthere was a rocky elevation, against which the waves broke with athunderous roar, sending back sheets of crested foam.
The boat kept on with unslackened speed and the boys grew somewhatuneasy as the tumbling breakers grew plainer to the sight. But thatuneasiness became consternation, when Lester with a quick twist of thetiller headed the _Ariel_ straight toward two immense rocks thatseemed to stand out as sentinels on the coast.
"Lester!" shouted Bill in warning and then stopped. A look at thestrained intent face of the helmsman told Bill that he knew exactly whathe was doing.
They came nearer and nearer, and the faces of the boys blanched at thefearful turmoil of the breakers. Then Lester threw the tiller to port.
"Sit tight!" he yelled, and the next moment the _Ariel_ dashedstraight for a point midway between the two giant rocks.
There was an awful moment as she staggered through that seething turmoilof raging waters. But this was followed by an immense relief when theyfound themselves rocking on the waters of a sheltered cove, which, whilerough, were like a mill pond compared to the sea outside.
Before them stretched a sandy beach, which bore no trace of humanhabitation except a tumbled down hut which stood fifty feet inland. Afew scrub pines were scattered here and there, and some dejected lookingbushes grew in a little patch of green that the sand had not yetswallowed up. It was not an attractive landscape, but to the boys, afterescaping the perils of the sea, it seemed a bit of Paradise.
"Lower the sail, Fred," directed Lester. "We'll get out the sweeps andfeel our way to a landing place."
The sail came down with a run, and Fred rose and stretched himself afterhaving been so long in a cramped position.
"Lester, you're some sailor," he said in hearty admiration. "You handledthe _Ariel_ to the queen's taste. I take off my hat to you."
"Same here," echoed Teddy. "It certainly looked as if it were all upwith us when you came shooting toward these rocks."
"It was a dandy bit of work," said Bill warmly. "It's a lucky thing forthis crowd that you were at the helm. If you hadn't been, we might befood for the fishes by this time."
"Oh, I don't know," returned Lester, flushing a little at the chorus ofappreciation. "I just happened to know of this place, and I knew we hadto get to shore before dark. So I took a chance on making it. But it'snearly dark now, and we've got a lot to do, before we're snug and tidyfor the night.
"The first thing to do is to find a shallow place where you fellows canwade ashore. Then I'll take the _Ariel_ out a way and anchor her.As soon as that's done, I'll swim ashore and join you."
They poled the boat in carefully with a pair of long sweeps until theirsoundings showed them that they were in less than three feet of water.Here Bill and the two Rushton boys jumped overboard, and while they heldout their arms to him, Lester carefully let down the stranger. He couldwalk by this time, although he was still weak and shaky, and the boyshelped him to the shore.
"Now you sit here for a while," said Fred, when they had reached a pointtwenty feet or so up the beach, "while the rest of us hustle around andget something to eat. Do you feel hungry?"
"I'm beginning to," smiled the other. "I guess I can punish my part ofthe supper pretty well."
"Good!" said Fred heartily. "That reminds me. Say, Lester!" he called,as he waded back, "hand us over that string of bluefish. It's lucky wecaught them before the storm came up. Is there anything left from thelunch?"
"Not a thing," answered Lester. "You wolves went through that lunch likea prairie fire. But I've got some slices of bacon in the locker, andhere's some salt and pepper. I guess we won't go hungry."
"Not from the looks of that string we won't," laughed Fred, as hereceived from Lester enough bluefish to feed a dozen men. "Now hand overthe other things, and by the time you anchor and come ashore, we'll beready to fill you up."
"That's a big contract," grinned Lester, "but I'm going to hold you toit."
He poled the _Ariel_ out a little way and dropped the anchor. Thenhe made everything shipshape about the little craft, slipped into thewater, and swam ashore.
He found that his comrades had not been idle. Teddy had ransacked thehut and found an old frying pan and a bent up broiler, probably leftthere by the hunters that made this their rendezvous in the snipingseason. Bill collected all the shrubs and twigs that he could find, andtaking a match from an oilskin pouch started a fire. Fred was busy withhis clasp knife, cleaning the fish, and when Lester reached them, he hadhalf a dozen speckled beauties ready for the frying pan.
"Let's use the busted broiler instead," suggested Lester. "Bluefish aretwice as good broiled as they are fried. We'll use the frying pan forthe bacon."
"The fish would be better yet, if we had some oak twigs to broil themon, instead of the broiler," said Bill, whose experience in camping outmade him an expert adviser, "but there doesn't seem to be any woodaround here except pine. And the flavor of that spoils the fish."
So they compromised on the dilapidated broiler, holding the fish over afire of embers that they raked out from the main blaze. Bill busiedhimself with the bacon, and the appetizing odors that blended togethermade the hungry boys wild with anticipation.
At last the meal was ready, and they found it a feast fit for a king.They had no forks, but they used their knives as substitutes.
"Eating with your knife, Fred!" said Teddy, in mock horror. "What wouldmother
say if she saw you?"
"I certainly am some sword swallower," grinned Fred. "But we're all inthe same boat, and everything goes. I don't suppose Robinson Crusoe andFriday were very particular about their table manners. And this iscertainly a Robinson Crusoe stunt we're doing."
"Except that this isn't an island," laughed Lester.
"And there are no cannibals ready to make us into soup," added Bill.
"And our boat hasn't been wrecked," exulted Teddy, looking out over thewater, where the _Ariel_ lay with the firelight reflected from herside.
The Rushton Boys at Treasure Cove; Or, The Missing Chest of Gold Page 3