by Ross Kay
CHAPTER IX
IN SEARCH OF LAND
When next the sun rose it shone upon a very disconsolate and discouragedlittle band. The four boys and their negro companion were becoming verydownhearted. Thus far they had not seen a sign of a boat. It almostseemed as if they were on a desert ocean, for in these days ofworld-wide commerce there are few nooks and crannies of the seven seasnot visited by the merchant fleets.
Sam was the most cheerful person on board. Food and sleep had restoredhis spirits wonderfully and with the characteristic trait of his race,he was almost satisfied as long as he had those two things. No one hadmentioned his fight with Petersen to him. If he did not remember it,there was no use in telling him about it. The four boys decided to watchhim closely, however, in case he was acting a part. If such was the casehe would surely betray himself sooner or later.
The sun was just a little way above the horizon and a scanty breakfastwas being served on board the boat. John had just arisen from his seatto help himself to a big sailor-cracker. He turned and glanced at thenewly risen sun and suddenly stopped short, the cracker half way to hismouth.
"What's the matter, String?" demanded Fred, noticing his friend'saction.
"Land!" cried John, excitedly.
"Where?" exclaimed the others in one breath, at the same time springingto their feet utterly regardless of whether the boat upset or not.
"Right over there," said John, pointing. "I see hills and palm trees."
"Well, I don't," exclaimed George a moment later. "You're dreaming,String."
"I am not," said John insistently. "Don't any of you fellows see it?"
"It's a mirage," said Grant. "You don't see anything, String."
"Mirage, nothing!" cried John hotly. "I see land and if you all weren'tso stupid you'd see it too."
"Maybe you can see it because you are so much taller than we are,"suggested Fred.
"Stand up on one of the seats then," said John. "That'll make you astall as I."
George quickly followed this advice, but he could see no land. Grant,too, tried it but he was no more successful. They all began to make funof John.
"Something has gone to your head, String," teased George. "You're seeingthings."
John, however, was so angry by this time that he would not pay theslightest attention to such remarks. His face was flushed and he stillstared sullenly out across the water in the direction of the rising sun.Suddenly his jaw dropped, and a look of amazement spread itself over hisfeatures. His eyes were round with surprise.
"It's gone," he exclaimed in consternation.
"Ha, ha," laughed George, derisively. "I told you it was a mirage."
"Perhaps, the wind blew it away," suggested Fred.
"You all think you're pretty smart," said John, a half-foolish grin onhis face. "I swear I thought I saw land over there."
"Well, I tell you what we do," suggested Grant. "String thought he sawland over in that direction, but it's gone now. Just the same I say werow that way and see what we can see."
"What's the point in that?" demanded Fred. "You don't really think hesaw anything, do you?"
"No, I don't. At the same time we can't be any worse off than we arenow, and String's seeing the mirage may have been an omen. Perhaps thereis land somewhere over there after all."
"I'm willing," agreed George. "What do you say?"
"Let's try it," exclaimed Fred. "As Grant says we can't be any worse offthan we are now. Perhaps we'll be better."
"Ah think dat's a fine idea," said Sam enthusiastically. "Ah can row,too."
"No, you steer," directed Grant. "Give me your compass, Pop, and set acourse for him. You follow it exactly, Sam."
"Ah sho' will," agreed Sam, delighted at the idea of having no work todo and the responsibility of steering the boat.
"I guess I'm not a pretty handy sort of a fellow to have around," Georgeremarked with a grin as he took the compass from around his neck andhanded it to Sam. "I haven't written in my diary lately, though."
"Have you still got that with you, Pop?" exclaimed John.
"Surely. You don't think I'd lose that, do you?"
"I thought you might in all this mixup."
"No, indeed," said George warmly. "I wouldn't lose my diary foranything."
"Give Sam the course to steer," exclaimed Grant. "You all talk so much."
"All right," laughed George, and setting the compass on the bottom ofthe boat between the negro's feet he directed him to steer a littlesouth of east. This was the direction in which John had seen his phantomisland.
"I have a plan," said Fred. "I say we all row steadily for an hourwithout looking around. At the end of that time we'll all stand up and Ifeel sure we'll see land not far away."
"How are you going to tell when the hour is up?" inquired John. "Thereisn't a watch in the whole crowd that will run. I'm afraid it's too warmfor even the sun to be on time."
"Then we'll have to guess at it. Is everybody agreeable?"
"Suppose a boat appears ahead of us," suggested George. "We might neversee it."
"Sam is facing that way," said Fred. "He will see it and can tell us.Unless he sees a boat, though, he is not to say a word."
"That's a go," said Grant. "Is everybody ready?"
The word was given and the life-boat shot forward on its course. Thegame being played served to cheer up the members of the little party andas a matter of fact no one had remained greatly worried about theircondition for any length of time. Youth is always hopeful and every oneon board had always had the feeling deep in his heart that they would berescued before long. Lack of food and water had not assailed them asyet.
"The hour must be nearly up," remarked George at last.
"Huh," snorted Fred. "I don't believe we've been going over twentyminutes."
"Certainly not an hour," agreed Grant. "Stick to it a while longer,Pop."
"All right," sighed George, "but I know we've been working at least anhour."
"You never worked an hour in your life," said John. "How do you know howlong it is?"
"I warn you not to talk like that," said George, pretending to be angry."I am sitting right behind you, you know, and it would be no trouble atall for me to give you a good, swift punch in the middle of the spine."
"Oh, Pop," exclaimed Fred. "How bloodthirsty you're getting."
"I'm thirsty for a drink of water, that's sure," exclaimed George.
"You'll have to wait until the hour is up," said Grant.
"I say it's up now."
"The rest of us say not, though," reminded Grant. "Besides that, we'rethree to your one, so we can make you do pretty much as we please."
"Is that so?" exclaimed George haughtily. "Well, if I want to turn myhead around I don't know who could stop me."
"Don't try it," warned Fred, who pulled the bow oar. "You'll be sorry."
"How about Fred up there?" demanded John.
"We've all got our backs turned to him and he may look around everyminute for all we know."
"Sam can see him," exclaimed Grant. "Has he looked around yet, Sam?"
"Ah ain't seen him if he has," replied Sam, grinning from ear to ear andshowing a double row of ivory teeth.
"If he does, you just tell us," said Grant, "and we'll fix him."
"Yas, sah," grinned Sam. "Ah'll report all right."
"Seen any boats yet, Sam?" demanded George.
"No," said Sam before Grant could stop him.
"Look here, Pop," exclaimed Grant hotly, "you ought not to have askedhim that question. We made an agreement not to look around, but what'sthe use if you aren't going to live up to it?"
"Did I look around?" demanded George.
"No, but--"
"Well, that's all I agreed to."
"I know, but--"
"Seen any land, Sam?" asked George. He knew how angry he was makingGrant, but one of his main objects in life was to tease people.
"Ah ain't sayin'," said Sam warily. "Yo' all ain't gwine to ketch menapp
in' again."
"That's right, Sam," exclaimed Grant; "don't you answer a singlequestion that any one asks you."
"Oh, Grant," mocked George, at the same time pitching his voice like agirl's. "I think you're just horrid."
"Hit him, somebody!" exclaimed Fred laughingly. "Don't let him live."
At this moment, however, George, who had been paying more attention tothe conversation than the rowing, caught a crab. He lost his balancecompletely and toppled over backward, sprawling at full length on thebottom of the boat. As a consequence the whole crew was disorganized.The agreement not to look around was entirely forgotten and all headswere turned to look at George.
Suddenly John stood up in the boat and cheered at the top of his voice.
"Look there!" he cried. "There's land this time, all right!"