Bert Wilson, Marathon Winner

by John Kendrick Bangs

  CHAPTER XII

  THE OCEAN'S PREY

  It was indeed a scene of awful wreckage on which they gazed. The galehad played havoc with the unfortunate vessel, and what with the aid ofthe mighty waves had almost completely demolished it. The bulwarks werebattered and broken, where the masts had crushed them in fallingoverboard. Broken and splintered planks strewed the deck, and everythingwas bound together by tangled masses of cordage. The bridge had beentorn from its fastenings at one end, and sagged down to the deck. Allthe davits were empty, with the exception of two in which boats werestill hanging. The reason for this was plain, as they both had hugeholes stove in their planking, and could not possibly have been repairedin less than several days.

  Altogether it presented a sad spectacle, and bore mute testimony to theterrific violence of the storm through which they had just passed. Therewas no sign of life on board, but nevertheless Captain Everett decidedto send a boat to investigate, on the off chance of picking up somewounded or sick person who might have been overlooked in the last madlaunching of the boats.

  Accordingly, a boat was lowered, and certain members of the crew toldoff to man her. "Gee!" exclaimed Tom, who with Dick, Bert, and most ofthe other athletes, was an interested spectator of these proceedings,"I'd give 'bout ten years of my life to be able to go with them. I don'tsuppose there's any chance of that, though, hang it!"

  "Not a chance in the world," replied Bert, but then he hesitated aminute, and said, "But wait, hold on a minute. I may be able to get uson, after all."

  "How are you going to do it?" questioned Dick, incredulously, butalready Bert was making a bee-line for the captain.

  When he could get Captain Everett's attention he asked to be allowed tovisit the wreck with his two companions. At first he would not evenlisten, but Bert begged so hard that he finally consented.

  "Very well," he answered, rather dubiously, "I suppose I'll have to letyou go, but just the same I wish you had asked some other favor.However, I don't suppose any very great harm can come from it, so youhave my permission, Wilson. I am trusting you to be careful and notendanger the lives of you or your two companions."

  "Thanks awfully," said Bert, "and you may rest assured that we will takeevery precaution," and Bert turned and raced back to his companions.

  "It's all right, fellows!" he yelled. "The captain says we can go, andeverything's settled. Make out I'm not the champion little fixer of thiscrowd of rescuing heroes."

  "You sure are," admitted Dick. "We've got to hand it to you. But tell usthe magic word. Let us in on the secret, and tell us how you did it."

  "Oh, I'll tell you all about it later on," replied Bert. "I haven't timenow, because they're holding the boat for us as it is."

  Captain Everett, true to his promise, had given orders to the crew totake the three comrades with them, and they awaited their arrival withmuch impatience. They had not long to wait, however, for in another fewseconds the three had raced across the deck at a pace that did credit totheir training, and tumbled into the boat. Then the sailors gave waywith a will.

  The graceful boat fairly flew over the ocean, which by this time hadbecome much smoother. Occasionally some wave higher than the rest woulddash against the sides and send a silvery shower of spray over them,and without careful seamanship it would have been no very difficultmatter to swamp the frail craft.

  However, they reached the wreck without mishap, and then the questionarose as to the best way to board the hulk. The splintered mast washingagainst the side of the ship nearest to their own vessel made itimpossible to land on that side, so they rowed around under the stern ofthe wreck. Here her name was printed in prominent black letters: the_Mary Carpenter_, of New York. Continuing to the other side, they hadsmall difficulty in picking up a trailing rope and making their littleboat fast. Then, one after the other, they went up the rope hand overhand until all the crew were on the littered deck with the exception ofone sailor who was left to take care of the boat. The boys had no choicebut to follow suit, but they tackled the feat with many misgivings. Itis not as easy a thing as it may sound to climb hand over hand up aslippery cable, with a seething ocean below, and the ship to which therope is attached jerking and plunging in every direction. Fortunately,their nerve and good training enabled them to negotiate the perilouspassage without accident, and they were soon standing on the deck of thewreck.

  Mr. Pollard, the officer commanding the expedition, led the way, pickinghis way over piled and tumbled wreckage that told its own story ofstorm and destruction.

  He made directly for the cabin, followed by the others. As they nearedit they could distinguish a muffled barking, and Dick exclaimed, "Well,what do you know about that, fellows! They've left in such a hurry thatthey've left their dog behind. It begins to look as though we might havea chance to rescue something, anyway."

  "Doesn't it, though?" said Tom, and the boys could hardly restrain theireagerness to break open the door imprisoning the unfortunate animal.

  They were not long in reaching it, but found the door blocked,apparently by some heavy object inside. Several of the sailors set theirbrawny shoulders against the door, however, and it burst inward with acrash. From the opening dashed a big white bulldog, running full tiltinto Tom and fairly knocking him off his feet.

  "For the love of Mike!" exclaimed Tom, as he picked himself up, "whathit me anyway? Was it an elephant, or what?"

  As soon as the others could recover from their laughter, they beganmaking overtures to the dog, who had rushed up into the bows and nowregarded them suspiciously. "Poor old fellow," said Bert, "I guess hethought the end of the world had come, or something equally bad. Hedoesn't seem to like our looks very much now, though, does he?"

  "Well, if he does, he conceals his feelings very successfully," saidDick. "He may become better tempered, though, when he sees that we'retrying to introduce ourselves properly."

  Indeed, the dog seemed more frightened than vicious, and presently beganto wag his tail feebly. After much coaxing he came toward them, and Bertventured to pat his head. The dog licked his hand affectionately, andwagged his tail, or what he called his tail, as hard as he knew how."Say, fellows," said Bert, seized by a sudden inspiration, "let's takehim back with us and make him our mascot. I have a feeling that he'llbring us all the luck in the world."

  "Great idea," agreed Tom and Dick, and adopted the ship-wrecked oneforthwith. The suggestion of a sailor that he hadn't brought much luckto the vessel on which he was found fell on deaf ears, and the boysreturned to the search of the ship, followed unquestioningly by theirlatest acquisition.

  Inside the dark cabin everything was in a confused state fitly matchingthat of objects outside. The berths were tumbled, and the bed-coveringswere strewn about the floor. A small iron safe set in flush with thewall was open, and empty. A few stray coins were scattered here andthere about the floor, and the first comers pounced eagerly on these, tosave as souvenirs. A further search failed to reveal the ship's log orany of her papers, but of course this was not to be wondered at, as onlyin a case of the most dire peril will a commander leave his vesselwithout these.

  There were three other state-rooms opening out of the main cabin, butafter they had been thoroughly ransacked nothing of any value was foundin them.

  "Well, men," said Mr. Pollard, "I guess there's no use in staying hereany longer. Evidently there's no living soul on board, and as far as Ican see there seems to be nothing worth taking away."

  Accordingly, after one last glance around the forlorn cabin, they hadturned and were preparing to go on deck, when they were startled by ashout from above and the man who had been left to take care of the smallboat poked his shaggy head inside the door.

  "You'd better make haste, sir," he exclaimed, in an excited voice,addressing Mr. Pollard, "this old tub's settling fast, sir, and I thinkshe's about due to go under in something less than a quarter of anhour."

  Accordingly Mr. Pollard gave the order to return to their boat, but thewords had hardly left his mo
uth when the wreck gave a sickening lunge,and the face of more than one in the little party went pale.

  "Step lively, now, men!" ordered the officer, in a tense voice. He hadno need to repeat his order, for the ship began to list over at a sharpangle, and the men broke into a run. The sight that met their eyes asthey leaped up the stairs to the deck was terrifying. When they had gonebelow, the deck had been perhaps four feet above the water, but now itwas almost level with the waves at its highest part, and where it hadlisted over the water was lapping above the boards.

  A shout went up from the sailors, and they made a wild dash for theboat. Into it they tumbled, pell mell, and last of all came the threeboys and Mr. Pollard. They leaped into the boat without selecting theirlanding place very carefully, and those nearest the oars snatched themup and began pulling for dear life. They were not in unison, however,and the boat fairly crawled away from the side of the doomed vessel.It seemed like some horrible nightmare, in which deadly peril isseen approaching, but from which the sleeper is unable to escape.Fortunately, both Dick and Bert had managed to get hold of an oar onopposite sides of the boat, and they at least kept their heads andworked together.

  They knew that if the wreck sank before they got one or two hundred feetfrom it, the whole boat load would be drawn under by the suction. Theytugged and pulled desperately, and gradually, aided to some extent bythe cooler of the crew, drew away from the dangerous vicinity. In theirexcitement they had forgotten the poor dog, but now they were remindedof his presence by seeing him come to a broken place in the bulwarks andgaze after them with beseeching barks and whines.

  Dick looked at Bert, but the latter shook his head. "No, we can't take achance and go back for him, Dick," he said, "it would be staking all ourlives against that of a dog. We'll have to leave him, that's all."

  "Gee, but I hate to do that," exclaimed Tom, "maybe we can get him tofollow us," and he started whistling to the dog.

  The animal seemed uncertain what to do, but after giving one despairingglance around at the dismantled deck, he appeared to make up his mind,and plunged boldly overboard. Those in the boat would have liked to waitfor him, but they dare not. They were not yet at a safe distance, andthe wreck was going down fast now. She was listed considerably to port,and they could see the waves washing further and further up the slopingdeck.

  Slowly, slowly, the unfortunate schooner settled, causing little ripplesand eddies in the water surrounding it, which by this time was almostcalm. Now almost half the deck was under water, and then the sterngradually rose in the air, while the bows pointed downward into thegreen depths. Slowly, deliberately, she slid under the waves, and onemore proud ship was added to the ocean's heavy toll.

  A deep sigh went up from those in the little boat, partly of thankfulnessat their own escape, and partly of sorrow over the fate of the wreckedschooner.

  The poor bull dog had disappeared, and the boys gave him up for lost.Suddenly Tom cried, "Look, fellows, look! He must have been draggedunder by the suction, but I just saw him come up!"

  Sure enough, over the spot where the ship had gone down they could see alittle white speck bobbing up and down.

  "Give way, men!" ordered Mr. Pollard, "we might as well pick the pluckylittle scamp up. It's easy to see _he's_ no quitter."

  The men were nothing loth, and were soon alongside the game littleswimmer. Tom leaned over the side, and grasping him by the scruff ofhis neck, pulled him safely inboard. The dog feebly licked his hand, butthen lay in a little dejected heap in the bottom of the boat, pantingheavily.

  "Well, old sport, fate has certainly been handing you a rather roughdeal lately, hasn't she?" asked Bert, addressing the dog, and wasanswered by a faint wag of the stubby tail.

  "We'll have to give him a name, I suppose," said Dick, "what shall wecall him fellows? Suggest something."

  This was a serious matter, for of course a mascot has got to have anappropriate name. 'Sport,' 'Nero,' 'Prince,' and many others wereproposed, but were finally rejected in favor of Bingo, which had acollege flavor and seemed to suit him very well.

  By the time this question had been settled they had reached the_Northland_, and were soon on board. Last of all Bingo was hoisted overthe side, and introduced to the assembled athletes as the team mascot.He was received with the greatest enthusiasm, and immediately proceededto make friends with everybody.

  "I always thought we'd clean things up at the Olympics," remarked Drake,"but now I feel more certain of it than ever. The only thing we lackedis now supplied. I must confess, now that the trial is past, that havingno mascot has kept me awake many a night and seriously affected myappetite," he said, with a grin.

  "Gee, if anything has been affecting your appetite, Drake," said one ofthe others, "I'd like to see you when you were in first class shape andcould really eat. I think this bally old hooker would be out of grub inless than a week."

  "Oh, yes, that's right, pick on me, just because I'm small and weak,"grinned Drake, who was something like six feet two inches tall, andweighed a hundred and ninety-five pounds, "why don't you go and get somepoor victim of your own size once in a while."

  "Gee, it must be awful to be feeble and puny the way you are, Drake,"laughed Bert, "you certainly do arouse my pity. What you need is a tonicto build you up."

  "Yes," chimed in Tom, "poor Drake's fading fast. All he could do to-daywas to throw the discus a measly little hundred and thirty feet and afraction. That sure is an indication of falling powers."

  "Yes, I've noticed how he's weakening," remarked Axtell. "Why, he hasn'tgot anything at all on that discus except a mile a minute speed and aworld of strength. Otherwise he's certainly all in."

  Drake stood all this chaffing with a good natured grin, for he was insuch good condition that he could afford to have people joke about it.He had been doing better and better all the time, and nobody on boardhad the slightest doubt that he would break all records at the comingOlympic.

  He was really a marvel of strength, but some of the sailors on board,while they admitted that "the big guy could sure throw that platearound" still believed that at least one of their number had the 'goods'on him. They pinned their faith on a big, red haired Irishman of theirnumber, who had won fame in many a rough and tumble battle, and sworethat no 'college guy' who ever lived could throw him. The athletes hadequal faith in Drake, however, and knew that he had at one time takenconsiderable interest in scientific wrestling. This fact, combined withhis phenomenal strength, made them certain he could throw the bigsailor.

  For some time there had been considerable controversy between theathletes and the crew, all in a good natured strain, however. Thesailors were anxious to pit their champion against Drake, but the latterhad felt that such a contest would interfere with his training, and sohad held off.

  That morning, however, the big Irish sailor had made a vaunting remarkthat had "gotten Drake's goat," and made the big fellow resolve to bringmatters to an issue once and for all.

  He confided his resolve to Bert and a few chosen pals, and they wereglad to hear it, for the crew had all along adopted a skeptical attitudetoward the athletes, and referred to them more than once as the "collegekids."

  Accordingly they decided to challenge the big sailor that very night,and Dick was intrusted with the task. They decided to meet the man(Donahue by name), on his own terms, so that afterward the sailors couldhave no possible grounds of complaint.

  In pursuance of this plan Dick went forward to the sailors' quartersimmediately after supper, and found Donahue and some of his friendslying in their berths smoking black clay pipes and swapping yarns, aswas their custom off watch, when they felt strong enough to stand thestrain.

  "And phwat's the matter now, young felly?" inquired Donahue, when hesaw Dick coming down the ladder. "Sit down awhile and make yersilfcomfortable. I was jist goin' to tell my mates o' the time Oi waswrecked on a cannibal island an' married the chief's daughter, an----"

  But here Dick interrupted him. "I'm afraid I won't have time to li
stenjust now," he said. "I've come from my friend Drake (the discus thrower,you know), and he wants me to say that he thinks he can throw the bestwrestler you've got here, bar none."

  "Oh, he does, does he?" growled Donahue, "all right, me bye, you just goback and tell him that Oi'm ready for him any minute of the day, ornight too fer that matter. How does he want to run the match? Under alot o' fancy rules, Oi suppose."

  "Not on your tintype," replied Dick, warmly, "this is to be catch ascatch can, and the best man wins. You haven't any objection to that,have you?"

  "Divil a bit," said the sailor, "thim terms suits me all right. What doye say mates? When shall we run off the match?"

  "What would be the matter with to-morrow evening right after supper?"inquired Dick, "you might as well take your licking then as any othertime, Donahue, and get the agony over with."

  "Lickin', is ut?" said the big Irishman, grimly. "Lickin' it may be, butit won't be me as gets it, you can lay to that. Bring on your man aftersupper to-morrow evenin' at about this time, and Oi'll stretch memuscles a little before goin' to sleep. Me heart's full o' pity for yourman, though. It seems a shame to do ut," and he grinned and gave atremendous and elaborate yawn.

  "All right, we'll be here," replied Dick, "only if you've got anysympathy to spare, I'd advise saving it for your own private use.You'll need plenty of it."

  "Well, that's as may be," replied Donahue, and after settling a few moredetails Dick left.

  Returning to his companions, he acquainted them with the result of hismission, and Drake expressed himself as perfectly satisfied with theconditions.

  "I don't anticipate much trouble," he said. "I guess there's no doubtbut what that harp is pretty strong, but its simply a matter of muscleagainst brain, and muscle doesn't usually make out very well in thatcase."

  "Yes, but you've got to be mighty careful," warned Dick. "That sailor isone of the strongest men I ever saw, and is capable of giving you a gooddeal of trouble. I'll be much surprised if he doesn't give you a mightyhard tussle."

  "Oh, I don't doubt that for a minute," replied Drake, "still I think Ihave the goods on him. We won't have to wait very long to find out,that's sure."

  After a little further discussion in the same vein the boys dispersedfor the night.

  Of course, Reddy had gathered a pretty good idea of what was goingforward, and at first he had decided to interfere, but later changed hismind. "I guess it won't hurt the boy," he reflected, "he's tough as apiece of armor plate, and it may do him good to give his muscles a goodwork out. There's nothing like a little excitement once in a while totone a man up and put him in the pink of condition."

  Accordingly Reddy "winked his other eye," as the saying goes, and letthe boys go on with their preparations unmolested.