Frank Merriwell's Athletes; Or, The Boys Who Won

by Burt L. Standish

  CHAPTER VII--THE STORM

  After a while Frank went below to examine the interior of the yacht. Hefound it very comfortable and well furnished with all necessities andnot a few luxuries.

  "She's a little boat," he said; "but she's a peach! There won't be anyroom to spare on board, but we'll manage to get along somehow. It isplain she was built for not more than five or six, and there are eightof us."

  Bart Hodge came down.

  "By Jove!" he said, dropping on a cushioned seat, "I am feeling better,don't you know. I hated to sail for Honolulu, and now we'll soon be sofar from San Francisco that there'll not be much danger of arrest. Iwant to stick by you, Merry."

  "And I hope we'll be able to hang together, old fellow," assured Frank."You have been beating about for yourself far too long."

  "I know it--I can see it now. It's lucky you turned up just as you did,for I was going to the dogs."

  Frank examined the wardrobe, and a cry of satisfaction came from him.

  "Look here!" he exclaimed. "Here are a number of yachting suits. Perhapswe can dig out suits for all of us."

  They overhauled the clothing, and Frank and Bart soon found suits whichfitted them very well. In fact, Merriwell was so well built that heobtained a splendid fit, and remarkably handsome he appeared in the cap,short jacket and light trousers of a yachtsman.

  "We are strictly in it," he smiled, surveying Bart. "I'll go on deck andsend the others down for suits, while you remain here and assist them inthe selections. I want to keep my eye on Lord Stanford, anyway."

  So Frank ascended the companion way, and soon took Barney's place at thehelm, sending him and Bruce below.

  The boys were much surprised to see Merriwell appear in a yachting suit,and he explained that he had purchased everything on board the_Greyhound_, which included the suits in the wardrobe, as they plainlywere not all Chandler's personal property, having been designed for menof different build.

  "Vale, uf dot don'd peat der pand!" muttered the Dutch boy. "Uf derepeen a suit der lot in dot vill fit me, I vill show der poys vat a dandysailors der Dutch makes. Yaw!"

  Barney soon returned to the deck, having found a very good fit, but hesaid Bruce was having more difficulty.

  "Begorra! there wur a fat mon on borrud, an' he's lift a suit thot willfit this Dutch chase," grinned the Irish lad.

  "Why you don'd drop id callin' me dot names, Barney!" cried Hans. "Idon't like dot, you pet!"

  The other lads went below to see what they could find in the way ofclothes as Frank sent them, Toots being the last.

  Every boy found a suit, although in some cases the clothes were tooloose. Hans came swelling on deck, wearing a suit with the legs of thetrousers turned up several inches and the wrists of the coat sleevesrolled back.

  "Say!" he grinned; "I vos a pird! Did you efer seen der peat me of now,I don't know?"

  Toots had discovered an ordinary sailor's suit, with white anchorsworked upon it, and he was proud as a peacock.

  The very first leg across had carried them out past Black Point, uponwhich Fort Mason frowned down upon them when they swung close under theshore and went about on the other tack.

  At first the _Greyhound_ gained on the _Fox_, as Merry could see; but asLord Stanford's yacht approached the open ocean she found a strongerbreeze and danced along in a lively manner.

  Other vessels were in the narrows, but there was plenty of room for themall.

  Frank had brought a marine glass from below, and he used it to watch the_Fox_, having permitted Barney to take the helm again.

  Merry could see Lord Stanford standing on the deck near the companionway, talking to one of his men. From the manner of the Englishman, itwas apparent that he did not suspect he was being pursued.

  "So much the better," muttered the new owner of the _Greyhound_. "If hedoes not catch on right away we may be able to overhaul him and layalongside without being suspected."

  He watched the _Fox_ till it shot out past Fort Point and disappearedbeyond the point of land on which the fort was located.

  "So they are bound southward," muttered Merry. "Ten to one they aregoing down the coast to Santa Cruz--possibly to Santa Barbara, althoughthat is quite a cruise."

  Half an hour later the _Greyhound_ ran out past Fort Point, and the_Fox_ was discovered far away along the coast, steadily bearing to thesouth.

  "We're after you, my boy," muttered Frank. "I don't believe you'll beable to run away from us in a hurry."

  There was a heavy swell on--an "old say," Barney called it. It was seenthat the _Fox_ was rolling a great deal.

  "They are sure to hug the coast pretty close," Merriwell decided. "Idon't believe Lord Stanford cares about getting far from land in thatboat. The _Greyhound_ will sail anywhere he can go."

  It became a steady sail to the south, and Frank cracked on every stitchof canvas, hoping to come up with the _Fox_ hand-over-hand. In this hewas disappointed, although it was plain that they gained somewhat.

  The afternoon sun sank lower and lower. Toots was appointed steward, andprepared a meal from the supply of provisions on board.

  At sunset the _Fox_ was seen rounding a distant point of land and makinginto a bay.

  "I rather think she means to stop there to-night," said Frank.

  He examined the chart and decided that it was Half-moon Bay.

  "If the wind holds," he declared, "we will come upon them thereto-night."

  But as the sun sank in a reddish haze that seemed like a conflagrationfar out on the open ocean, the wind died entirely and the _Greyhound_lay becalmed, rolling helplessly on the "old sea."

  "But it's a good bit av a brase we'll be afther havin' before mawnin',"Barney declared. "Oi nivver saw th' sun go down thot way when it didn'tpoipe up lather on."

  The Irish lad was right. Frank believed this, and he ordered everythingmade tight, while both mainsail and jib was double-reefed, and thetopsails taken in.

  "I don't see the good of all this work," grumbled Diamond. "Here we arerolling around without a breath of wind, and yet we're taking in sail asif it were blowing a hurricane."

  Frank paid no attention to Jack, who, in a most astonishing manner, haddeveloped into a grumbler since starting out on the bicycle tour acrossthe continent.

  Barney, however, was not pleased with the Virginian's remarks, and hesnorted:

  "Pwhat's th' matther wid yez? It's a roight shmart bit av a sailor ye'dmake--Oi don't think! Ye'd wait till th' wind blew, an' thin ye'd beafther rafing."

  Jack did not fancy being talked to in this manner by the Irish lad. Heflushed hotly, and seemed on the point of assaulting Barney, but Mulloygave indications that he was ready and anxious for a "scrap," andDiamond thought better of it.

  The rolling swell proved decidedly trying for some of the boys, andDiamond was the first to get sick. In fact, he had begun to feel illwhen he grumbled about shortening sail.

  "Dot poy vas opeyin' der Pible," grinned Hans, pointing to Jack, who wasleaning over the rail. "Der Pible says, 'Cast your pread der vater on,'und py shimminy! he vas doin' dot, ain'd id!"

  Then the Dutch boy opened wide his mouth and laughed heartily. Suddenlyhe pressed his hands to his stomach and stopped laughing, a queer,troubled look coming to his fat face.

  "Shimminy!" he muttered. "I vonder vot der madder mit me vas, don'd id?I nefer felt so queer all mein life in."

  Then, as the _Greyhound_ fell away into the trough of the sea, with apeculiar sinking motion, he gasped:

  "Dot subber vot I ate don'd seem mit me to agree. I pet you your lifedot canned chickens vas sboilt. I peliefed all der time dot chickens vasa hen, but id vas der first hen I efer seen as didn't vant to set."

  "Begorra! it's saysack ye are alriddy," chuckled Barney. "You'll bekapin' company wid Diamond dirictly."

  "Yaw," gasped Hans. "I pelief you, Parney."

  Then he made a rush for the rail, and followed Jack's example.

  Darkness came on, creeping in a blue haze across the water. Shortlya
fter nightfall there was a faint, weird moaning away on the surface ofthe sea, which glowed like liquid fire under the rail of the yacht.

  "It's the auld nick av a blow we'll have," declared Barney to Frank. "Oidon't loike it at all, at all."

  "You like it quite as well as I do," admitted Merriwell. "I am notfamiliar with these waters, and I do not fancy the idea of piling up onlea shore."

  The moaning arose to a shrill cry, and then the wind came with a suddenrush, catching the _Greyhound_ and knocking her on beam ends in atwinkling.

  Frank assisted Barney at the helm, shouting:

  "Hold fast, everybody!"

  The little vessel righted, and then away she leaped, laying hard over toport, with the rail awash.

  Like a frightened race horse the _Greyhound_ sped away, with the wildwind beating upon her and shrieking through her rigging. The mast bentwith a snapping sound.

  "Ease off the sheet!" shouted Frank. "We're in danger of losing thatstick, and we'll be finished if we do!"

  So the boat was allowed to run free, which eased the strain somewhat.

  Now the wind was shrieking as if all the demons of the deep had been setloose in a moment and were making an assault on the little yacht thathad been caught in the midst of the tempest.

  At nightfall Frank had taken precaution to see that the proper lightswere set, green to starboard and red to port.

  The sky was covered with flying masses of clouds, between which the coldstars blinked and vanished, like the flashes of guns seen through massesof rolling smoke.

  After a little the moon rose and leaped up into the mass of clouds, asif eager to be in the midst of the wild delirium of the reeling sky.

  The _Greyhound_ leaped along the crests of the waves, plunged into thedepths of the watery valleys, and tore her way through the seething,boiling sea.

  Frank was watching her with the greatest anxiety, wondering what sort ofstorm boat she would prove to be.

  Diamond, Browning, Hans and Toots got below. Rattleton and Hodgeremained on deck with Frank and Barney.

  When the moon shot out through the clouds the boys could see a greatwaste of water heaving and plunging all around them, like a sea of snow.

  But the moon appeared and disappeared in such an erratic manner that itwas extremely irritating, making the whole world seem a place oftroubled shadows and awesome shapes.

  "It's dead lucky we reefed down for this, Barney," cried Frank, placinghis lips close to the Irish lad's ear.

  "Roight ye are, me b'y," Mulloy called back, cheerfully. "It's a goodbit av a braze she's blowing now, an' Oi think there's more comin'."

  "Will she stand, it?"

  "Av it ain't too sthiff. It's a roight tight litthle boat she is, an'all we nade is to kape off shore an' let her go."

  Beginning to feel satisfied with the behavior of the yacht, Frank felt awild thrill of delight in the fury of the tempest. He knew somethingabout managing a large boat himself, and he felt confidence in Barney'squalifications as a sailor.

  The moon leaped from the edge of one cloud to the edge of another, as ifit, too, were running a race across the sky and taking all sorts ofdesperate chances.

  There was the sound of sullen thunder in the tumbling sea, which swishedand swirled about the little vessel like hissing serpents.

  Now and then Frank strained his eyes to port, for he knew the coast laythere to leeward, and he had no fancy for suddenly coming upon somerocky point that might project far out into the sea.

  He fully understood that, in case the _Greyhound_ should becomedisabled, it would not take the wind long to pile them upon the shore,where the seas would beat out their lives on the rocks.

  There was danger in the tempest, and it was just enough to keepMerriwell's blood rushing warm in his veins.

  "If Stanford's yacht has found shelter in Half-moon Bay, we'll be ahundred miles below them in the morning," he cried to Barney.

  "Sure," agreed the Irish lad. "But nivver a bit can we hilp thot,Frankie."

  The first half of the night was wild and boisterous. Near midnight thewind fell somewhat, but it still blew so strong that the _Greyhound_held on its course.

  Toward morning the tempest died out, and sunrise found them rollinghelplessly on the long swells, without enough breeze to steady the boat.

  Diamond had been sick all through the night, and he was in a pitiablecondition, looking pale and weak.

  "If I ever get ashore, I won't take another cruise for ten years," hefaintly declared. "It didn't make much difference to me last nightwhether we went to the bottom or not. In fact, there was a spell when Irather hoped the old boat would go bottom up, and I'd been glad to takea chance by having her run ashore."

  "Vale," said Hans, "I feld someding like dot meinself: but I peen petternow. All der same, I pelief I strained me der roots my toenails of, undI vas lame all ofer."

  When the breeze rose, after breakfast, Frank set their course due east.At noon they ran into Monterey Bay and anchored off Santa Cruz.

  By that time Diamond had recovered from his sickness and was beginningto take some satisfaction in the life on board the yacht.

  Frank felt sure the _Fox_ would run into Santa Cruz, and so he keptwatch for her appearance.

  It was mid-afternoon when a bark came in from the south and reportedseeing at sun rise a small yacht that was in a battered condition,evidently having been in the blow of the previous night. She had losther mainsail, but seemed to have been prepared for such a misfortune byhaving an old sail on board, and this her men were setting.

  The bark had spoken the yacht and asked if she needed aid, but shedeclined assistance. The name of the yacht was the _Fox_.

  Barney, who had gone ashore, heard this statement, and he made all hasteto get on board the _Greyhound_ and report to Frank.

  Merriwell was astonished.

  "Great Scott!" he exclaimed. "Lord Stanford did not lay to in Half-moonBay, and the _Fox_ was out in the storm last night. She was used worsethan the _Greyhound_, but, instead of being ahead of her, we are stillbehind! That is an interesting discovery, I must confess! All the same,the loss of her sail has delayed her so she will not have such a greatstart on us. It's lucky she did not lose all her canvas, or she might behigh and dry on shore now."

  "What are you going to do?" asked Hodge.

  "Do? I am going to get up the anchor and get after the _Fox_ instanter.I'll catch her if I have to chase her around Cape Horn!"

  "That's the _Fox_ sure enough, Frank," declared Bart Hodge, who had beenwatching the distant sail for some time.

  It was three days after the night of the storm, and the _Greyhound_ hadentered the Santa Barbara Channel.

  In all that time they had not sighted the yacht they were pursuing,although they heard of her several times from vessels they had spoken.

  With bulldog tenacity Frank had continued in pursuit of Lord Stanford'sboat, and now, at last, he was rewarded by sighting her in the distance.

  A steady breeze was blowing from the northwest, and the _Greyhound_ wascarrying every stitch of canvas with which she was provided.

  "She does not seem to be heading for Santa Barbara, if I am right in myreckoning," said Merriwell, in a puzzled way. "She should be setting hercourse southeast and she is bearing directly south. I wonder whereStanford is taking Inza and her father? I really do not understand it."

  The others were unable to offer a solution for the Englishman's peculiarbehavior.

  Both boats were running almost dead before the wind, and the _Greyhound_was able to spread the most canvas, so she gained steadily on the otheryacht.

  Within an hour she was quite near the _Fox_, which seemed to be headingfor a wooded island that lay straight ahead.

  The boys could see that the steady manner in which the _Greyhound_ heldin pursuit of the boat in advance had created some stir aboard.

  Looking through a glass, Frank saw Lord Stanford come up from below andtake a survey of his pursuer. Then one of his men brought him a glass,an
d he took a look through that.

  Immediately the Englishman grew excited. He turned to the man who hadbrought the glass and said something, waving his hand in a manner thatbetrayed agitation.

  "At last he has discovered who is following him," smiled Merriwell. "Butit is too late to get away. We are walking up on him in great style."

  "An' it's a bit av a shcrap we're loikely to be in directly," grinnedBarney. "Oi don't moind thot at all, at all!"

  "You like the prospect, you rascal!" laughed Frank. "Well, I mustconfess that I do not mind it myself."

  Nearer and nearer the _Greyhound_ drew to the _Fox_.

  Lord Stanford came aft and shouted to his pursuers.

  "Keep off, you blooming duffers! If you come near us you will get intotrouble!"

  "Ahoy, the _Fox_!" Frank shouted back. "Lay to. I wish to come onboard."

  "I'll brain you if you try to come over the rail of this yacht!" frothedthe excited nobleman.

  "You will be sorry if you try that trick," asserted Merriwell. At thismoment Inza appeared, hurrying up the companion way and reaching thedeck of the _Fox_. She saw Frank on the pursuing boat, and waved herhand to him.

  With an exclamation of anger, Lord Stanford hastened to her side, andseemed to be urging her to go below again. It was plain that she refusedto do so, and the Englishman grew still more angry.

  "Begobs! th' spalpane acts loike he wur goin' to shtrike her!" exclaimedBarney.

  "If he does, I'll make him regret the day he was born!" grated Frank.

  "Dot vos der stuffs!" nodded Hans; "und you vos der huckleberry to donedot, Vrankie."

  The _Fox_ was now on the port quarter of the pursuing yacht, and it wasplain the _Greyhound_ would soon weather the other boat. The two yachtswere quite near together.

  Lord Stanford was seen to suddenly grasp Inza's wrist, as if he thoughtof forcing her to go below.

  Then it was that, without warning, the _Fox_ changed her course tostarboard, and the _Greyhound_ crashed into her.

  There was a severe shock, a sound of splintering wood and rending sails,and the _Fox_ careened violently, as if she was going over.

  "That must be a clumsy lubber at her helm!" cried Frank. "Make fast toher, boys!"

  With those words he rushed forward, sprang out on the jib-boom andleaped to the deck of the _Fox_.

  A moment later he confronted Lord Stanford, who was still clinging toInza.

  "Break away, you villain!" were the words that shot from Merriwell'slips.

  Then he caught the Englishman by the collar, broke his hold on Inza, andsent him sprawling his full length on the deck.

  "Oh, Frank!"

  "Inza!"

  He held her close in his arms.

  "I knew you would come! Something told me you would find a way tofollow!" she declared.

  "I would follow you to the end of the world!" he whispered.

  With the aid of boat hooks the boys had made the _Greyhound_ fast to the_Fox_, and they lost no time in boarding the yacht they had run down.

  There were but three sailors on board the _Fox_. Stanford urged them toattack the boys, but one of them, the fellow who had been at the helmwhen the collision occurred, coolly drawled, his voice having the nasaltwang of a genuine down East Yankee:

  "Wal, not by a gol darn sight! I know some of them fellers, by gum! an'ef there's goin' to be enny fightin', I'll hev ter fight with them an'ag'in yeou, Mister Lord Stanford."

  "Great goodness!" cried Bart Hodge, staggering with surprise. "Is itpossible--can it be Ephraim Gallup?"

  "Kainder guess it be, b'gosh!" grinned the tall Yankee youth. "I ain'tseen some of yeou fellers since I left Fardale skewl, an' I'm slappin'glad ter clap peepers onter ye, by chaowder!"

  "Be me saoul! it's th' Yankee bane-'ater!" shouted Barney.

  "Shore's yer born, Mister Mulloy. I'm 'tarnal tickled by this air chanceter meet ye all."

  "Ephraim Gallup!" squealed Hans. "Dot vos der poy _I_ von times fought adeadly tuel mit at Vardales! Shimminy Gristmas! Uf dees don'd peen arecular surbrise barty!"