CHAPTER XXII.
WHERE AMBITION LED.
True to his word, the generous Irish lad was the very first to graspNick's blistered hand and congratulate him on his wonderful success.
"That's what comes of stick-at-it-tiveness," declared Herb, ponderously,as he, too, gripped the fingers of the successful shark fisherman.
Nick was allowed to get the rifle, and wind up the career of the savagesea monster. In the morning they estimated his weight, just as they haddone with others in the past. Everybody was satisfied to agree with thatfirst guess which Jack made, and call it four hundred. And they declaredthat Nick was a wonder, in that with only the assistance of the falls,he had dragged such a monster up on the beach.
The voyage was resumed that day, and for the better part of a week theywere put to it dodging storms, making outside runs when the fair weatherallowed of their braving the open gulf, and extricating themselves fromvarious unpleasant predicaments, when they managed to lose themselves inwhat had promised to be a convenient cut-off, but which proved a trapin the shape of shallow water, with many chances of the boats stickingin the mud.
After Pensacola would come Mobile; and then the next place they expectedto reach would be their destination, New Orleans.
Each night as they figured on the time that still remained, a senseof gloom would descend upon the camp, though Jack or else Jimmy soondissipated it by some joking remark, or it might be by bursting out intoragtime song. But they had had such a glorious time since starting outon this remarkable voyage that they viewed its approaching finish with afeeling bordering on dismay.
Jimmy had now taken to being haunted by a desire to eclipse the greatfeat of his stout rival. Though it did not seem that there might be onechance in fifty of his succeeding in capturing a fish that would exceedthe weight of that monster shark, Jimmy had developed an industrioustrait.
Early and late his mind was set upon the game. Nick had generouslyturned over his shark tackle to the other. He guaranteed that it wassound, and capable of sustaining any strain.
So Jimmy would each night do just what the other had been engaged inuntil recently; and the way he attended to that line was worthy of allpraise.
But, although hardly a night went by that he did not make some sort ofcapture, his best effort fell far short of the necessary heft, and Nickbegan to feel that the wager was as good as won. Nevertheless, hewatched all that Jimmy did with a certain amount of interest, not to sayanxiety, knowing that there is, according to the old saying, "many aslip between the cup and the lip."
All of them were in the very best of health, and in this the voyage downthe coast, and around the end of Florida among the keys had done themgood. Even Josh seemed to have recovered from his spell of indigestion,and was able to do his share of the eating.
How could it be otherwise, when they were living in the open air day andnight, drinking in the pure ozone all the while; with contented minds,and plenty to appease the healthy demands of the inner man?
So one fine afternoon they headed up the wide bay leading to Pensacola,expecting to get more home letters here. George had a wrinkle betweenhis eyes at times, but this was not on account of any anxiety inconnection with a girl he had left behind him, as some of the othersjokingly declared. The fact was, his new engine was giving him a littletrouble.
"Tell you what, George," Herb had said, when they had to stop an hourfor the other to do some work, in order to induce the motor to carry onits part; "your old _Wireless_ is just a hoodoo, and that's what ailsyou."
"Huh!" grunted George, in disgust, "I'm beginning to believe that waymyself, to be honest now. I've done everything a fellow could do, evento installing a new and guaranteed motor; yet here the measly thing goesback on me, just like the old one used to. Huh! it's just sickening,that's what!"
"But you see, George," Josh remarked, with a wide grin, "the bally boatwouldn't feel right at all if it went too smooth. Ever since you firstgot her she's been accustomed to playing you tricks. Expect her toreform all at once, and be as meek as Moses? Well, I guess not. Give hertime, George, plenty of time."
"Oh! she's got to see me through this cruise," declared the owner of thecranky speed boat; "because I haven't got the money to buy another rightnow. And no matter what the rest of you say, I've somehow always lovedthis boat."
"Of course," observed Herb; "they always say that the bad child isloved most by its parents, because they feel the greatest anxiety forthat one. But give me the steady old _Comfort_, that never keeps meawake guessing what sort of trick it'll play next."
"Oh! that's all right," remarked George, indifferently; "everybody totheir taste. But I'd die in that tub, watching all the rest run circlesaround me."
"Oh! hardly that," laughed Herb; "because, you see, once in a whilethere's a little ripple of excitement comes breezing along, when somefellow asks to be taken in tow!"
Of course, after that George had nothing further to say; for he couldlook back to several instances that were full of humiliation to hisproud spirit, when necessity had forced him to accept of this friendlyaid on the part of his chums.
But they reached Pensacola finally in good shape. George hoped thatafter all, as the others said, that one little trick on the part of hisengine might have only been a slip that would never occur again; thoughhis confidence was shaken, and he watched its working suspiciously afterthat.
Letters from home greeted them at Pensacola; but no new developmentswere contained in them, at least nothing positive. The strike had notbeen settled, and there was warm talk of the town putting men to workregardless of labor unions.
"And so little has been done," Jack remarked, after getting theconsensus of opinions from all the letters that had been read, "that Ican't see, for the life of me, how they're ever going to complete thebuilding this season. I understand that it was proposed to use thebiggest church in a pinch; but just as luck would have it, the heatingplant in that has gone all to pieces, so that the scholars would be aptto freeze."
The boys looked at each other, and smiled. Perhaps they were, deep downin their hearts, secretly hoping that the workers up there would keep onquarreling, and the completion of the high school building be postponeduntil the next summer. For boys give little thought concerning lostopportunities in the way of learning. Besides, were they not getting thefinest lessons possible in the line of self reliance; and was not thislong cruise the best sort of education, when they had learned a thousandthings that could never be forgotten?
When they left Pensacola the weather appeared favorable; but at thisseason of the year nothing can be taken for granted; so that theexperienced cruiser is accustomed to keeping a strict watch for signs ofstorms.
They had need of caution about this time, since there arose a necessityfor considerable outside work, always dangerous in small boats, becauseof shallow water near the shore, and an absence of suitable harbors inwhich to seek shelter, should a sudden gale arise.
If all went well, they anticipated making it a one-night stop betweenPensacola and Mobile; and Jack thought he had the place for this camppicked out on his coast chart, which he studied faithfully.
So, as this day moved along, they were putting the miles behind them ata steady rate. George had no new trouble with his engine, though it wasnoticed that he cut out some of his racing ahead of the others. Constantfriction from water will wear away granite in time; and the numerous andlong-continued troubles of George must be making an impression on hisusually buoyant spirits.
"Alabama, here we rest!" sang out Jack, about five in the afternoon, ashe pointed ahead to where a friendly island or key offered them theshelter they craved.
"Oh! I'm so glad!" Nick was heard to say, and they could easily guesswhy; for of course Nick must be ravenously hungry--he nearly alwayswas.
Accordingly they headed in, meaning to pass behind the end of the keythat jutted out like a human finger, offering an asylum to all smallcraft that could gain the sheltered water behind.
It was just
while they were slowing up, since caution had to beexercised whenever they neared shoal waters, that Herb called outexcitedly:
"Oh! Jack, look out yonder; what in the dickens is that coming along,and sticking out of the water?"
Of course every eye was instantly turned in the direction Herb waspointing.
"It's a whale!" shouted Nick, almost falling overboard in his excitement,as he discovered some dreadful looking black object rushing through thewater amid a sparkling mass of foam.
"A whale!" echoed Jimmy, dancing up and down excitedly; "Och! if I onlyhad a harpoon now, wouldn't it be just grand? A whale would knock thespots out of the biggest shark that iver grew, so it would."
Jack had snatched up his marine glasses, and was leveling them at themonster, back of which trailed that line of foam and bubbles. Theothers, watching, saw him stare as though hardly able to believe hiseyes, and then laugh outright.
"Oh! there goes Jimmy in the dinky; and, would you believe it, he's gota gun!" exclaimed Nick. "Nothing is too big to scare that boy, I dobelieve. He'd just as soon tackle a whale as a sunfish. Call him back,Jack, or he'll be drowned!"
Jack laid down the glasses, which had occupied his attention so muchthat he had not observed the actions of his cruising mate.
"Here, you, Jimmy, come right back!" he called, though he could hardlytalk because of the desire to laugh.
"But howld on, Jack, darlint, didn't ye be afther sayin' anything thatswum was a fish; and if I get a whale ain't it fair play?" the otherreplied, pausing in his labor of using the short oars belonging to the_Tramp's_ tender.
"Sure, I did," answered Jack; "but that didn't mean you could go aroundbanging away at one of your Uncle Sam's submarines, out for a trial spinfrom the Pensacola navy-yard. I guess you'd better come back now, beforeyou get in trouble; don't you?"
Motor Boat Boys Among the Florida Keys; Or, The Struggle for the Leadership Page 22