by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXVII.
DORY MAKES A HARBOR FOR THE NIGHT.
Dory could not see any reason why his uncle should follow him at all,and especially not why he should chase him in the night and the storm.It seemed to him not improbable that the Sylph had abandoned thepursuit, and gone up the lake.
While he was hoping the chase was ended on the part of his uncle, theGoldwing came up with the south-west point of the large island. Beyondit the sea looked very ugly, and it would shake the schooner up in avery lively manner in the next mile and a half she had to make. Dory didnot care to take any needless risks; and, if the steamer had given upthe chase, he intended to get under a lee, and anchor till morning.
He looked back once more before the boat reached a position where hecould not see the other side of the lake. To his regret he saw theSylph just coming into view beyond Ladd's Point. She had not given itup. He wished he had made another half mile, and then she could not haveseen the schooner; for she would have been behind the island. She couldsee him plainly enough now, and she headed for the south of Ball Island.
Having passed through the channel between the islands, the weather thereproved to be a perfect muzzler. The Goldwing labored heavily in theangry chop sea, and it was all Dory could do to keep her right side up.In a few minutes more it seemed quite impossible to do so, and Dory letgo the mainsail halyards. Whether he was caught or not, he could nolonger carry all sail. He had put the schooner before it, but he had tocome up into the wind to get in the mainsail.
The young skipper's calculations had been within bounds, and he couldafford the time he spent in reducing sail. With more experience he wouldhave taken in sail from choice rather than necessity, for a boat don'tsail any faster by being crowded with more sail than she can carry. Theforesail was a large one, and it almost becalmed the jib. It was all thesail she needed, and Dory soon saw that he was going faster than at anytime before.
A run of a mile and a half more brought the boat up with the extreme endof St. Alban's Point. An eighth of a mile west of it was a small island.Here was another of those channels which the low water renderedavailable for the purpose of the skipper in eluding his swift pursuer.The channel was about four feet deep; and Dory hauled in the fore sheet,and went through it. Under the lee of the island the skipper found thewater quiet. Throwing the boat up into the wind, he ran forward, andhauled down the jib. Then he threw over the anchor, leaving the foresailset.
It was getting dark, and the manoeuvring could not be kept up muchlonger. It would be fifteen or twenty minutes before the Sylph couldcome up with St. Alban's Point. The Goldwing was behind the island, andhe did not think the people on board of her would discover where shewas. If they did, she could not follow him through the shoal passage. Ifshe got out her boats again, he could run off to the northward under theforesail. All he had to do was to watch and wait.
He had still a considerable supply of ham and hard-bread and cheese inthe cabin; and, while he watched and waited, he ate his supper. Beforehe had eaten all he wanted, he saw the bow of the Sylph beyond the pointof the little island. She had stopped her screw, and this made itevident to Dory that his uncle suspected he had gone through one of theopenings to the other side of the islands.
The skipper of the Goldwing was tired of the chase, but he did notintend to be captured by his uncle. He could hear the escaping steam onboard of the Sylph, and he knew that she was not more than a quarter ofa mile distant from him. Captain Gildrock would get out his boats again,and send them through the passage, where the steamer could not go.Weighing the anchor, he stood off to the north-west under the foresailonly.
Though the wind was blowing almost a gale, the schooner went along verywell under the foresail. She had not made half a mile before Dory sawthe Sylph standing down the bay again. This movement called forreflection on the part of the skipper. He was not quite willing tobelieve that his uncle would allow himself to be caught again by theold strategy. If she were going around to the north side of the islands,it was a five-miles' run; and it would take her half an hour to do it.
After thinking the matter over for some time, he concluded that hisuncle was using strategy. If he was really going around the islands, hehad left the boats where they could intercept him if he resorted to theold dodge. He decided not to be caught in any trap, and therefore hecontinued on his way to the northward. Ahead of him was Wood's Island,and he changed his course enough to carry the boat to the leeward of it.
It was getting to be quite dark, and the chase could not be continuedmuch longer. It was less than two miles to Wood's Island, and he wassoon up with the southern point of it. It was now too dark for him tosee the boats, if they had come through from the bay. Dead to windwardhe at last discovered a green light, which he had no doubt was thestarboard signal-lantern of the Sylph.
The steamer was really going around the islands. He watched this lightwith deep interest, and in a few minutes he made out the red light.Both the port and the starboard lights were now to be seen, and thisindicated that the Sylph was coming towards him. But she was nearlythree miles distant, and at present he had nothing to fear from her.
The Goldwing was now up with the cape that extends out from the eastside of the island. For half a mile beyond it, was a shoal of rocks andsand; so that the steamer could not come within that distance of theshore until after she had passed this shoal. The coast-line of theisland now trended to the west. Taking another look in the direction ofthe steamer, he found he could see only her red, or port, light. Thisindicated that she had headed to the eastward, and was going towards theplace where Dory had anchored.
The schooner carried no lights, and it was impossible that those onboard of the Sylph had seen her in the darkness. She had gone in to theshoals between the large island and the main shore to pick up her boats.Dory was quite satisfied with the present aspect of his case. Thedarkness would fight out the rest of the battle for him.
A quarter of a mile behind the point on Wood's Island there was a bay,into which he ran the schooner. He hauled the centre-board entirely up,and then worked the boat as far as he could towards the land. When shegrounded, he lowered the foresail, and made every thing snug on board.His craft was completely sheltered from the violent wind; but he carriedthe anchor up to the shore, and buried one of the flukes in the sand.
From the boat he could no longer see the steamer's lights. But, when hehad planted the anchor, he went ashore, and walked down to theprojecting point, from the end of which, if it had been light enough, hecould have seen the whole of the north side of Potter's Island. The portlight of the Sylph was still in sight, but in a few minutes itdisappeared. Neither of the signal-lights could be seen; and thisindicated that the steamer was headed away from Dory's position, or hadstopped her screw.
Presently he saw some white lights moving about. He judged that theywere lanterns in the hands of the men. Beyond this he could form no ideawhat was going on. He watched the lanterns for twenty minutes or more.He supposed the steamer was picking up her boats, if she had sent anyout: if not, they must be examining the shore in search of the Goldwing.Dory was sure they would not find her, and he felt entirely easy.
About this time it began to rain. The skipper had on nothing but hisshirt and trousers, and the rain felt wet to him. He did not like thefeeling of it. He had played his part as far as he could that night. Ifhis uncle discovered him in his present retreat, he could not helphimself. There was nothing more that he could do to keep out of the wayof the steamer. He might as well get into the cabin out of the rain, andtake his chances.
As he started to return to the boat, he took a last look to thesouthward. The lanterns had disappeared some time before, but now theport light of the Sylph came into view again. A little later he saw thegreen light. Both were in sight at the same time. The steamer,therefore, was coming towards him. He hastened back to the boat, andwaded off to her.
Dory did not believe that the Sylph's people could see the Goldwing inthe darkness and in the mist caused
by the rain. He drew the slide, andcrawled into the cabin, leaving the doors open so that he could see outupon the lake. After a while he saw the two lights of the steamer. Shewas moving very slowly to the northward. The green light disappeared asshe came nearer.
The island was less than a mile from the mainland, and the Sylph wasobliged to keep half a mile from the shore to clear the shoal. Shepassed the dangerous navigation, and Dory was strained up to the highestpitch of anxiety as he waited to see whether she was coming in anynearer to his hiding-place. He watched for the green light, but he sawonly the red one.
The rain came down in torrents; and the skipper could hear the roar ofthe gale on the island, though he was completely sheltered from itsfury. It was so thick out on the water that he could no longer see thered light, or only caught an occasional glimpse of it. The steamer hadgone off to the northward, and this was evidence enough to Dory that hisretreat had not been discovered. The excitement was over for that dayand that night. The skipper put on the rest of his clothes, and turnedin. While he was wondering whether the Sylph would make a harbor, andanchor for the night, or return to Plattsburgh, he dropped asleep. Hewas very tired, and he slept like a rock till the sun shone into thecabin in the morning.
Southerly storms are of short duration generally, and there was not acloud in the sky when Dory went out into the standing-room to survey thesituation. A gentle breeze was blowing from the west, and the appearanceof the lake and its surroundings was as beautiful as the dream of amaiden. It was Sunday morning: he had been cruising for three days onthe lake, and he was anxious to get home. But his first desire was toascertain what had become of the Sylph. She was not to be seen from hisposition in the boat.
Taking a large slice of ham in one hand, and a quantity of hard-bread inthe other, he waded to the shore. From the highest ground, he surveyedthe islands and the mainland to the northward and eastward withoutseeing any thing of the steamer. Walking to the hill in the south of theisland, the first thing he discovered, when he got high enough to seeover the top of it, was the Sylph. She was headed to the south-west;and Dory concluded that she had spent the night under the lee ofButler's Island, two miles north of Wood's Island. She was bound throughthe Gut, and in a few minutes she disappeared from the skipper's view.