CHAPTER VII
THE DRIFTING MOTOR BOAT
The sun had not yet risen the next morning, although the eastern sky wasbright with signs of coming dawn, when Lester passed among his sleepingcomrades with a shake on the shoulder for each.
"Come along, you sleepy heads," he cried, as they sat up and rubbedtheir eyes. "We must hustle now and get off. Lively's the word."
"You old tyrant," yawned Teddy. "I feel as though I'd just got tosleep."
"What's that I smell?" demanded Fred, as a savory whiff came to hisnostrils. "Is it coffee, or does my nose deceive me?"
"Nary a deceive," grinned Lester. "I just remembered that we had somecoffee in the locker, and I swam out and got it. And that isn't all.Just take a sniff of this," and he motioned to an old can that he hadrummaged from the hut, and that hung by two forked sticks over the fire,giving off a most appetizing odor.
"Clams," pronounced Fred, as he bent over it. "Lester, you're a wonder.Where did you get them?"
"Found a bed of them up the cove a bit," answered Lester. "Oh, I'm somelittle hustler, if any one should ask you."
The boys needed no further urging, and after plunging their faces intothe waters of the cove, they ranged themselves round the fire andsampled Lester's cooking. The clams were delicious as a beginning, and,topped off with the bacon and the rest of the bluefish, together withthe fragrant coffee, furnished a meal that would have made a dyspepticgreen with envy.
"Now, fellows," said Lester, when the last crumb and last drop hadvanished, "the storm has gone down, although the water's still prettyrough. But we can start all right. I'll swim out to the _Ariel_,get up the anchor, and bring her in far enough so you can wade out toher and get aboard. Then we'll make a break for open water and take alook around for Ross' motor boat."
"I'm none too sure we'll find her," said Ross, dubiously. "She may havebeen swamped or dashed against the rocks."
"Oh, I don't know," remarked Fred. "It's a wonder what a boat will gothrough sometimes, and then she was so far out that I don't think shegot near the rocks."
"Even if we don't find her, it won't be any proof that she went under,"added Teddy. "Some other boat may have caught sight of her and taken herin tow."
"Not in such a blow as we had last night, I'm afraid," answered Ross."Still, I'm not going to begin to grizzle now. There'll be plenty oftime to do that if we don't find her."
In a few minutes they were all on board, and the _Ariel_ made forthe narrow passage between the sentinel rocks at the mouth of the cove.
"A little different from what it was when we came scooting in lastnight," remarked Teddy, as the sturdy little boat danced out on thewaves that sparkled in the sunshine.
"Well, rather!" answered Lester, as he swung the _Ariel_ round toher course. "I don't mind telling you fellows now that I felt mightyshaky yesterday afternoon. I've been out in many a stiff blow, but I'veusually had warning and been able to make a dash for home. It takespretty careful work to get a boat into that cove between those two bigrocks even in ordinary weather; but it's a case of nip and tuck when onehas to try it in a storm. My heart was in my mouth for a few minutesuntil we got safely through."
"You didn't show it," said Fred. "You went at it as coolly as any oldsalt who has done nothing else all his life but buck the seas."
"Well, anyway, we got through all right, and that's all that counts,"returned Lester. "But after this I'm going to keep my eyes peeled forsigns of trouble before the trouble comes."
"It was our fault for talking too much," remarked Teddy. "We were sostirred up by that letter from Mel that we couldn't think of anythingelse."
By this time Lester had the boat well out on the open sea, and every onekept a sharp lookout for any trace of Ross' boat. In his heart no one ofthem really expected to see it again, but they all kept up an appearanceof confidence, the Rally Hall boys doing so in order not to discouragetheir new-found friend.
He, on his part, was almost silent. This was due to some extent, nodoubt, to the reaction from his severe ordeal of the day before, but itmay have been caused somewhat by the feeling that he had gone too far intaking them fully into his confidence. His secret was no longer his, andwhile he was strongly drawn toward these wholesome young fellows whowere of his own age, he could not help feeling a little uneasy. He feltsure that they would act toward him in perfect good faith, but somecareless or indiscreet word dropped by any one of them might betray thesecret to others who would not be as scrupulous.
"I wish we had brought a pair of glasses along," remarked Lester."There's an extra pair at the lighthouse, and we might have had it aswell as not."
"Never mind," said Teddy, "we've got Bill's eyes to fall back on, and ifthey can see as far out over the water as they used to over the prairie,they'll be almost as good as glasses."
Over an hour elapsed without any trace of the derelict, and Lester beganto feel uneasy in regard to his long absence from home.
"I hate to cut this short," he said reluctantly, "but I know just howfather is feeling after yesterday's storm, and I feel it's up to me tolet him know we're safe. As soon as we've done that, we can put rightout again and spend the whole day looking for the boat."
"You're just right," answered Ross heartily. "You fellows have doneenough for me already and you ought to make a bee-line for home. Thechances are all against our finding the motor boat anyway. It may havesunk long ago."
Just as Lester was about to act on the suggestion, there was a cry fromBill:
"There's something over there that may be what we're after. I've beenwatching it for some minutes. It's a boat of some kind, and it hasn'tany sails. It doesn't seem to be going anywhere, but is just tossing upand down."
The rest strained their eyes, but at first could see only a tiny dot.Lester steered straight toward the object and as a stiff breeze filledthe sail he made rapid progress.
"That's it!" shouted Ross jubilantly, as they came closer; "I've handledit too long to be mistaken."
"Hurrah!" cried Teddy.
"Great!" exclaimed Fred. "It wasn't a forlorn hope after all."
"We're some little searchers, all right," exulted Bill.
They were soon within a hundred feet of the motor boat. It was a trim,smart-looking little craft, and the boys admired the long sloping linesthat denoted speed. There was no sign of any damage to the boat, but theloggy way in which it moved showed that it had shipped a lot of water.
With a skilful twist of the tiller, Lester rounded to on the port side.Fred reached out and held the two boats together with the hook, whilethe others let the fenders over the side to keep the boats fromscraping.
"Right as a trivet," said Lester. "Here's your boat, Ross, old man, andas far as I can see it's just as good as ever."
"I'll never forget you fellows as long as I live!" exclaimed Rossgratefully, as he leaped to the deck of his own craft.
The Rushton Boys at Treasure Cove; Or, The Missing Chest of Gold Page 7