Walter could be of but little assistance on deck, owing to his ignoranceof nautical matters; yet in Jim's estimation he formed, as companion to himself, a very important portion of the watch. Brave though the young fisherman tried to appear, nothing short of actually saving his own life would have tempted him to remain on the Bonita's quarter-deck alone in the night; and even with an assistant it seemed necessary for him to whistle very loud during several minutes after Bob and Harry disappeared in the cabin before he had sufficient control over his voice to hide the fear which came upon him.
Then he said in what was intended to be a cheery tone:
"Well, Walt, I reckon this is the last night we'll run dead before the wind, unless it blows in our favor. By mornin' Bob oughter be strong enough, if he keeps on eatin' same as he has to-day, to help work ship, an' then the brig'll be headed toward home."
Walter sighed deeply. Just at that moment he was thinking of the loved ones whom he knew must be mourning his absence, and the word "home"caused such an uncomfortably big lump to rise in his throat that it was impossible to make any reply.
Perhaps the same syllable sent Jim's thoughts straying in a similar direction, for he began to whistle once more, and continued to do so until a voice from the companion-way asked, in a querulous tone:
"What's the matter? Short-handed as we are, do you think it's goin' to help out by havin' more wind!"
"It ain't blowin' any harder than it was when you went below," Jim replied in surprise, understanding by the tone of the voice that it was Bob Brace who had spoken.
"That's jes' why you wanter tie up the whistle. It'll bring a gale if you keep on much longer!"
Then the sound of footsteps told that the speaker had returned to the cabin, and Jim said, in a low tone, to Walter:
"Them old sailors are as full of whims as a dog is of fleas. Some of them on the Mary Walker had signs for everything a feller did; but I never saw any come true. Tom Downey, the mate, allers fussed when birds flew 'round the schooner, 'cause he said they'd bring on a gale, an' in a dead calm he'd either whistle or wish he had a cat to throw overboard."
"What for?"
"So's to bring a wind. He says it'll allers come when you do that; but of course its foolishness. Then again, ifIhappened to whistle, no matter how calm it was, I'd get a rope's endin' 'cause they think a boymustn't so much as squeak. If I'd believed Bob could hear me I'd know'd enough to hold my tongue."
"Did you get whipped very often on the Mary?" Walter asked, with a mild curiosity.
"More times than I've got fingers an' toes. Whenever any of 'em, from the captain down to the cook, wanted something to do they'd stir me up, an' it makes a feller dance when he gets a good stout heavin'-line across his back; but I'd be willin' to take a pretty big dose of it if I could be on board the old schooner just now."
There was no necessity for Walter to repeat this last sentiment. A severe punishment from his father at that moment would have been a positive pleasure. The lightest word in reference to home caused him to realize more keenly each hour the distance between those whom he loved and himself, and Jim's words seemed but the echo of his own thoughts.
During fully half an hour the two remained in silence at the wheel, steering the brig through the darkness on a course indicated only by the wind, and then the young fisherman was suddenly recalled from memories of the Mary Walker to the Bonita.
The breeze was increasing perceptibly, and the moisture in the atmosphere told that rain might be expected very soon. While the boys had given themselves up to reverie the clouds were gathering, until now it seemed as if they actually enveloped the brig as with an impenetrable vapor, and the waters dashed against the bow with that peculiar sullensighing which betokens a storm. The Bonita no longer sailed freely, but tossed and plunged like some living thing harassed by obstacles in its path until wearied with the constant strife.
Jim knew the meaning of this change in wind and wave, and he roused himself suddenly as does one who is rudely awakened.
"I reckon it would be better if we 'tended to our business instead of whinin' about what can't be helped," he said grimly, clutching yet more tightly the spokes of the wheel. "You'll have to go below an' tell Bob that a storm is comin' on, so's we can get in some more of this canvas, if he thinks we're carryin' too much."
Walter noted the change in his companion's voice rather than in the elements; but that was sufficient to cause him to move very quickly.
It became necessary to look in several of the tiny apartments before finding the two who were enjoying their watch below, after which it was an affair of only a few seconds to arouse them. Bob sprung to his feet before Walter had repeated Jim's words, and he awakened Harry by saying, as he pulled him from the bunk:
"Come on deck, lad; for we shall need the whole workin' force unless our fisherman has made a mistake!"
To have seen Bob ascend the companion-way ladder one would hardly have supposed he had been so near death a few hours previous. The necessityfor action seemed to call back all his strength, and on reaching the deck there was no evidence of weakness in his movements.
"Well, the wind you was callin' for has got here," he said to Jim, looking out into the darkness. "I never knew much good to come of boys whistlin' at sea, an' I don't reckon any one else ever did."
Jim had nothing to say. He didn't believe he was responsible for this sudden change in the weather; but long and sad experience had taught him how useless it would be to deny the imputation, and he asked meekly:
"Do you think we're goin' to have much of a storm?"
"It looks like it; but if we had half a crew aboard there wouldn't be any reason for touchin' a rope. The way we're fixed now makes things different, an' we'd better get her snugged down. I'll take the two boys for'ard, an' you ease her up a bit so we can furl the jib. Come on, lads; there ain't much time to waste."
Harry and Walter followed Bob without the slightest idea of what was required. They could carry out his instructions when he set the example, however, and in half an hour the Bonita was plunging heavily into the rapidly-rising sea with nothing save the foretopsail drawing. She had no more canvas than might have been shown in the most furious gale; but, under the circumstances, it seemed to be all that was consistent with safety, for no one could say how much wind lurked behind the inky clouds.
"Now light the binnacle lamp, Jim, so's we'll have some idea of wherewe're headin', an' then try your hand at makin' tea. I reckon this will be an all-night job for me, an' as I don't feel so very chipper yet, somethin' warm won't do any harm."
Bob took the wheel as he spoke, and Jim obeyed orders, the other boys following him closely, for the stuffy galley was preferable to the deck, where the huge waves, roaring astern, appeared ever on the point of ingulfing the brig.
By the time a pot of tea had been steeped the storm was full upon them, causing the Bonita to pitch and toss in what Harry and Walter thought a most dangerous manner. Jim did not feel disturbed by it, however, for in his mind was the knowledge of that greater peril concerning which his companions were ignorant. The brig was dashing on literally at the mercy of the gale, and at any moment might strike a reef or the mainland, to the destruction of all on board as well as her own stout timbers, for the helmsman had no idea of what lay before them.
When Jim carried a pannikin of tea aft, leaving the other boys in the galley awaiting his return, Bob said in a low tone, as if fearing his words would be overheard:
"You must take the wheel awhile, lad, so I can hunt for the charts. It won't do to storm along like this without a little smatterin' of what's ahead, an' we'll make some kind of a guess as to where the brig was when you picked me up."
Jim grasped the spokes firmly, as much for the purpose of steadyinghimself against the vessel's furious plunging as to hold her before the wind, and after draining the pan of its bitter contents Bob Brace went into the cabin.
Owing to the violent motion of the brig the boys in the galley made no effort to join the young fisherman at the helm, and he was left alone during half an hour, when Bob returned.
"Did you find the charts?" Jim asked eagerly.
"Yes; an' I reckon there's no call to worry ourselves very much. We're runnin' pretty nigh south, an' if the brig was a hundred miles off the coast when I came aboard there's nothin' between us an' the Bahamas. We've got thirteen or fourteen hundred miles of clear water, an' this breeze will blow itself out before——"
"Look! Look there!" Jim cried excitedly, heaving the wheel down to port as rapidly as he could handle the spokes.
Bob turned quickly, and but one brief glance was sufficient to cause him to spring to the helmsman's aid.
There was good reason why the two were alarmed. Directly in the Bonita's course, less than half a cable's length away, a huge fabric of canvas and cordage came out of the gloom like a phantom, as if bent on running down the brig.
The stranger had all lowersails set, and a collision would have been fatal to the smaller craft because her headway was so much less than that of the other.
"Up with the helm, lad, to meet her as she comes around!" Bob screamed,when the wheel had been jammed hard down for a second, and the Bonita heeled over while responding to the rudder's sudden swing. "We shall clear her, but it'll be a rub."
The stranger had also changed her course by this time, and as the two vessels swept past each other on a heaving, screaming sea of foam, hardly twenty feet apart, Jim sprang toward the flare.
"You can't bring her to now, lad," Bob shouted as the boy ran into the galley with the basin of alcohol-saturated oakum. "Even if they were willin', we couldn't wear ship."
Jim's excitement was so great that he did not hear the old sailor's words. When he emerged from the galley the spirit was sending up a blue flame which illumined the entire after-part of the brig; but the stranger had vanished in the gloom to starboard, and strain his eyes as he might it was impossible to see any answering signal.
"You needn't spend much time lookin' for that craft, lad. We've been nearer to her than we shall ever be again, an' you'd better chuck the basin overboard before your fingers get burned."
During the remainder of that night Bob Brace stood at the wheel, savenow and then when Jim took his place that he might go into the galley to light his pipe or solace himself with a pannikin of tea.
When the young fisherman lighted the flare both Harry and Walter firmly believed that the ship which had almost run them down would heave to and offer assistance; therefore, as the Bonita plunged on through the dense gloom and over the howling waters without receiving any answer to the mute appeal for aid, their despair was intense. To have been so near those who might have given help seemed to make their position even more desolate than it was before, and after watching in vain for some show of a light from the stranger the boys gave way to grief.
"Now see here, fellers," Jim said gravely as he entered the galley and found them weeping, "feelin' bad won't help matters, an' it'll only make 'em worse. Bob says there wasn't a chance for them on the ship to lend us a hand, even if they wanted to, an' we must keep a stiff upper lip till the weather clears a bit. By this time to-morrow there may be afull crew on board, an' the brig standin' up for the coast; so don't take on so hard. It won't be any use to stay on deck 'cause neither Bob nor me can turn in, so you'd better go below. I'll sing out if there's need for help."
Neither of the boys protested against following this advice. Both were perfectly willing to go where they could not witness the conflict of the elements, and when Jim went aft again they sought refuge in the cabin with but little heed to what a few hours previous had been a place peopled with phantoms of the imagination.
They were yet below when another day dawned, and Jim prepared an appetizing breakfast before awakening them.
The gale still continued in all its fury. With the single piece of canvas the Bonita plunged and rolled on her way southward, for the wind's direction had not changed by so much as half a point, and the watch on deck looked haggard and worn from the long vigil.
During the early hours of the morning, while the sun, through its cloudy veil, was trying to dispel the gloom of night, Jim asked if it was not possible to stand nearer the land in the hope of making some port, and Bob replied very decidedly in the negative.
"It can't be done, lad. The boys below wouldn't be of any account in makin' sail, an', besides, we'd stand a good show of plumpin' on the coast where there wouldn't be the ghost of a chance to get ashore. We'llkeep her as she goes till this wind blows itself out, an' then take to the boat if there's no craft in sight. This brig never'll reach port, 'cordin' to my way of thinkin', and I'll be the first to say 'leave her' when the time comes."
On this day there was but little change in the condition of affairs. The gale held strong from the north, but no sail appeared within the anxious watchers' range of vision. Harry and Walter were eager to be of some assistance; but beyond taking a few lessons in steering there was nothing they could do, and their time was passed in comparative idleness.
Bob and Jim alternately stood watch and slept until, when night came again, they were in fair bodily condition for the work before them, and once more Harry and Walter retired to the cabin, knowing they ought to do a full share of the labor, but too ignorant to give any save the most trifling aid.
Before midnight the wind fined down to a light breeze, still holding from the north, however; and Bob said, with a sigh, as Jim made ready to stand his trick at the wheel:
"Ah, lad, if we only had a couple of good men aboard how quick the old hooker's head would be turned toward the coast."
"In case we don't sight a vessel why can't you put her about, anyhow?"
"We'll make a try to get the lower canvas on in the mornin'. You an' Imust have a good bit of help from the watch below, an' they'd be worse than wooden boys in the night."
This was not the only reason why Bob made no attempt to get sail on at once. He was yet feeble from the exposure and privations of the nine days in the Trade Wind's yawl, and although there was but little labor involved in such watches as had been kept since coming on board the Bonita, the anxiety prevented an immediate return of strength.
"I've heard of vessels comin' in mighty short-handed," Jim said thoughtfully, as if trying to bring forward some argument which might induce the old sailor to take greater risks. "There was a fishin' schooner from Newburyport what lost all her boats in a fog, an' the captain brought her home with nobody but the cook to help."
"I ain't a questionin' that, lad. The packet-ship Three Brothers, in the Chinese trade, anchored inside of Sandy Hook ten years ago, an' nobody aboard able to lift a hand but two men and the captain's wife—all the rest down with fever. I could spin yarns from now till daylight 'bout jes' sich cases; we're fixed different. None of us knows navigation, an' its got to be all dead reckonin', which is a pretty shaky way of runnin' even a fishin' schooner. Then, again, Harry an' Walter ain't strong enough to handle the wheel in any kind of a decent breeze, an' it's only you an' me. We must lay by till somethin' more'n a good fair chance comes, else we'll find ourselves in a bad scrape."
"Of course you're the one that knows what we ought to do, an' I ain'tsayin' a word if we run way down to South America; but it's kinder tough on the boys. I can see 'em, when they think I ain't lookin', wipin' their eyes an' actin' like as if it wouldn't take much to make both yell right out. If they didn't have no more of a home than I've got neither would bother 'bout how long the cruise is likely to last."
"I s'pose it does seem rough," Bob said reflectively; "but what's to be done? I reckon they'd rather loaf 'round here a good many days than take chances on a raft. Sailorizin' is a mighty risky thing for green hands, an' while I can hold my own among the best of 'em in the fo'castle, I'd make a poor fist of navigation. They'll have to grin an' bear it same's many a good man has done before 'em."
Jim had no reply to make. Even before the conversation was begun he realized the difficulty of reaching port unless under the most favorable circumstances; and now since Bob had spoken so freely he resolved to be patient, no matter how long they might remain at sea.
The old sailor, instead of going below, where there would be some trouble to awaken him in the event of a sudden emergency, laid down on the deck to leeward of the house, and a few seconds later his loud breathing told of unconsciousness.
To remain at the wheel, the only one of this small crew awake, and in a certain degree responsible for the safety of all, was a task from which even a more experienced sailor than Jim might be excused forshrinking; but it was a matter which could not well be bettered, and the boy stood up to it bravely. Now and then the white crest of a wave in the distance caused him to start with joy, only to be correspondingly depressed a few seconds later as the true nature of the object was discovered; and thus amid alternate hope and despondency the two long hours of his watch were passed.
Then Bob took his trick at the wheel, Jim camping down on the deck in the place so lately vacated by the old sailor; and when his eyes were closed in slumber he did not open them again until the sun began to send long shafts of golden light across the leaping waters.
"What made you let me sleep so long?" he asked, with just a shade of irritation in his tone. "I was better able to stand watch than you, an' a couple of hours' sleep would a'-fixed me up all right."
"Well, lad, somehow the thinkin' of what might be the end o' this 'ere queer cruise kept me awake, an' when I wasn't sleepy there could be no reason for pullin' you out. We'll square it before dark, though. Now s'posen we get a little grub, call the watch below so's they can take a few lessons in steerin', an' be ready for settin' the canvas."
Jim, feeling that he was in a certain degree responsible for having thus unconsciously shirked his duty, carried out these instructions with the greatest alacrity. When Harry and Walter were awakened they went aft to their teacher in seamanship, while the amateur cook prepared a heartybreakfast, which was served on the top of the house in order that all might eat at the same time.
Then Bob went below for what he called a "double dose of snoozin'." Walter set things to rights in the galley, and Harry steered while Jim stood beside him to make sure the Bonita was kept on the course, exercising as much care as if it was the only one which could be pursued with safety.
Although Bob had fully determined to turn the brig toward the coast on this day, there was no change in her course at noon, and for a very good reason. Before daylight the breeze had died away entirely, and at nine o'clock the Bonita was rising and falling on the glassy ocean with not air enough stirring to lift the narrow thread of blue bunting at the main-truck.
The involuntary crew had spread the yawl's sail from the house to the starboard rail as an awning, for the heat in the cabin was too great to admit of their remaining below, and under this all sought shelter from the sun's fervent rays.
Bob found a reasonably large stock of tobacco among the Bonita's stores, and with this and a short black pipe he occupied himself during the hours of enforced idleness, while the boys thought of home and the loved ones whom they might never see again. The seconds came and went until the sun was directly overhead, and the old sailor had but just settled down for a noonday nap when all four sprang to their feet in alarm, as the deafening crush of an explosion was heard.
The brig quivered from stem to stern as if from the effects of a torpedobeneath her keel, and the fore hatch was flung high in the air while a dense cloud of what appeared to be smoke arose from the hold.
Astonishment and fear rendered the younger members of the crew incapable either of speech or movement, and they might have remained staring stupidly forward an indefinite length of time if Bob had not shouted, excitedly:
"It's a case of fire, lads! Jump to it for what provisions an' water can be got out in a hurry! There's no time to be lost if we want to leave, for most likely the hold is one mass of flame."
These hurriedly-spoken commands aroused the boys from their stupefaction, and in an instant all three leaped toward the pantry. Each took what was nearest at hand, and in a very few moments there was a reasonably large but varied collection of canned provisions in the yawl. No water had been put on board for the very good reason that they could not find a breaker; and Jim shouted, after they had searched several moments in vain:
"We shall have to leave without anything to drink, for we can't get one of the scuttle-butts on the boat."
"I'll stand a pretty good scorchin' afore startin' like that," Bob said decidedly, "'cause you see I know what it is to be thirsty. Fill half a dozen of the fire-buckets while I hunt after bottles."
During all this time the smoke had been pouring from the fore hatchwayin dense clouds, apparently giving evidence of some mighty conflagration below; but before a supply of water could be put on the yawl it had fined down to a thin curl of vapor, and to this Jim called Bob's attention just as they were preparing to lower the boat.
"It looks as if somethin' had put the fire out," he said; and Bob replied, as he let go the davit-falls:
"Make fast there, lads, an' I'll take a look below. We don't want to abandon the brig while there's a chance of standin' by her."
The old sailor went forward, the boys remaining aft ready to lower away at a moment's notice, and in a few seconds, to the surprise of all, he was seen going below.
"Now, that's what I call queer!" Jim said after five minutes had passed and Bob did not make his appearance. "He couldn't stay down there very long if the fire amounted to much."
"Perhaps he's been suffocated and can't get back," Harry suggested in a low, tremulous tone.
This idea was sufficient to alarm the other boys, and stopping only long enough to make the falls fast they rushed forward, reaching the fore hatchway just as Bob began to ascend.
"Is the fire very big?" Jim asked; and the reply astonished them quite as much as had the explosion.
"There ain't even a spark!"
"Then what caused the smoke?"
"The brig is loaded with alcohol in casks made of red-oak. That kind of wood is porous, an' the fumes escapin' have formed a gas that lookedlike smoke, but which had force enough to blow off a hatch that wasn't battened down." Then, as Bob seated himself on the combing and wiped the perspiration from his face, he added: "Now we can have a pretty good idee as to why this craft was abandoned. There was an explosion same as happened a few minutes ago, an' all hands thought what we did—that the brig was on fire. They hove her to an' got the boats over, most likely meanin' to lay at a safe distance until it was possible to find out what would happen. The mainsail was stowed, so she had no after-canvas to hold her steady. Then she got stern-way-on an' backed off till the wind filled her topsails, when she started like a rocket, leavin' the crew behind. Of course she would run a couple of miles, then come to, an' before the men could catch her she'd be off once more. The chances are that them maneuvers were kept up till night set in, when she was lost entirely."
The three boys listened with the utmost attention to this very plausible explanation of what had previously been such a deep mystery, and when Bob concluded there was a look of most intense relief on their faces. Up to this moment the brig herself terrified them because of what had possibly happened on board; but now all seemed changed, and she was suddenly transformed from something supernatural to the most innocent and peaceful of traders.
"Then there's no reason for abandoning her?" Harry said half-interrogatively.
"Not a bit of it, lad. We'll leave the hatch open to let the gas out,an' run her in on the coast if we don't speak a craft that can lend us two or three hands."
"S'posin' you could get some more sailors, then how would you fix it?" Jim asked, remembering what the old man had said regarding his ignorance of navigation.
"Take the chances of keepin' off the shore till we sighted a New York pilot-boat, an' then lay claim for a fat salvage."
"And we should be landed at home!" Walter exclaimed in delight. "We might stop in front of Harry's father's store, which is close by the wharves; and I guess there'd be a big time when Mr. Vandyne found out who had brought in the Bonita!"
"Don't count too much on anything like that, Walt," Harry added gravely. "Bob said he would try to make that port if he could find some sailors to help him; but according to the looks of things now it'll be a long while before such good luck comes."
"We can believe it will be here any moment, and then the nights won't seem so lonely, nor the days so long."
"That's right, lad; don't trouble trouble till trouble troubles you. Keep a stiff upper lip whatever happens, an' you'll stand a better show of pullin' through!" Bob cried in a cheery tone. "I was shipmate once with a chap what was allers worryin' 'bout findin' hisself on a hauntedvessel. He never'd put his mark to the articles till after he'd asked all about the craft, an' whether there was any ghosts aboard. Now, you let a man go nosin' 'round expectin' to see things, an' it happens that what he's huntin' for most allers comes, or else he conjures 'em up. Well, so it was with Tom—Tom Byard, he called hisself. He got drunk one night, an' the next mornin' awoke on a ship bound 'round the Horn with a cargo of railroad iron.
"It wasn't long before he commenced to hunt after ghosts, 'an this time he didn't have to look very far. I reckon the liquor—he'd been on a four days' spree—had considerable to do with his eyes; an' that very night, while they was within sight of Sandy Hook, he saw, or thought he did, the biggest kind of a ghost makin' right for him with a bloody knife. Tom was on the maint'gallant-yard with another chap when the thing come. He give a big yell, singing out that he knowed it would be there some time, an' over he went. Nobody ever saw hide or hair of him afterward, an' the captain put in the log-book as how it was delirium tre—tre—tremenjus, or somethin' like that, what killed him."
The point that Bob sought to make was forgotten owing to the length of the story, and even he himself appeared to have lost sight of any moral; therefore, what had been intended as a strong argument why people should not seek out trouble passed for nothing better than a very improbable yarn.
The boys were eager to see the cargo which had given them so much alarm, and had also possibly been the cause of the brig's abandonment by heroriginal crew; therefore they went below on a tour of investigation, which was not very satisfactory because there was nothing but a quantity of casks to be seen.
Ten minutes in the hot hold was sufficient to gratify their curiosity, and then the amateur cook sat about preparing the noonday meal.
Now that the boys had lost all fear of the Bonita, half their troublesseemed suddenly to have vanished. As a matter of course, Harry and Walter grieved because of the sorrow their unexplainable absence must have caused at home; but their distress of mind was lessened very materially by the belief that they would soon be in a condition to return.
Even Bob appeared to be relieved by what was evidently the solution of the mystery, and it was quite a jolly party which gathered in the saloon to partake of the dinner prepared by Jim.
"Now that things seem to be straightened up a bit, an' all hands are feelin' kinder nat'ral-like, I reckon we'll get some sail on the old hooker this afternoon," Bob said when the meal was finished and he had begun to make ready for the after-dinner smoke.
"There ain't wind enough to lift a pocket-handkerchief," Jim suggested, "so why do you want more canvas?"
"I don't reckon it'll hold calm a great while, an' we must be ready when the breeze does come. There's time now to give Harry an' Walter a lessonin workin' ship, an' they need it."
The boys had no objection to make, for a certain amount of labor was necessary if they ever hoped to reach home again, and they signified their willingness to begin at once; but the old sailor insisted on finishing his smoke before doing anything else.
"There's plenty of time," he said lazily, "an' we'll lay under the awnin' till the sun gets a little nearer the water."
Then he arose from the table, and as the boys followed on deck they were electrified by hearing him shout, as he shaded his eyes from the glare and gazed southward:
"There's a steamer, lads! Now all we've got to do is hook on an' be towed into port. Set the flag so's they'll know we're in distress, an' we'll overhaul the hawsers to save time."
Before he ceased speaking the boys had made out that which caused Bob so much excitement. It was a small craft coming toward them under steam, as could be told from the thread of smoke which floated on the still air, and after one glance at her Jim hoisted the signal of distress while the others gathered in the bows to watch the welcome approach.
"It ain't a very big steamer," the young fisherman said as he rejoined his companions.
"Most likely she's a tug what's got blown out to sea," Bob replied as he went into the cabin for a glass; and when he came on deck again the boys waited impatiently to learn what could be seen.
During fully ten minutes the old sailor held the glass to his eyes,while a mystified expression came over his face as he said to Jim:
"Here, take this an' see what you can make out. It puzzles me, for a fact."
"She looks like a tug," the boy said, after gazing at the approaching craft several seconds; "but there's something queer on her bow."
"What about her spars?" Bob asked impatiently.
"She's got two short masts, and—— Why, what's that? She's flying a signal of distress!"
"That's about the size of it," Bob exclaimed as he brought his hand down on the rail with a vigorous slap as if to give emphasis to his words.
"I thought my eyes must be playin' me a trick, so that's why I asked you to look. Her bow has been stove, an' she's workin' up this way for help."
"Well," and Jim lowered the glass with a gesture of disappointment, "she's comin' to a pretty poor place, for we've got our hands full tryin' to help ourselves."
During the next half hour hardly a word was spoken, so occupied were all hands with watching the stranger, which approached very slowly, and at the end of that time she was almost within hailing distance.
It was a small tug with a flag run half-way up the stumpy mainmast, and her bow stove from the cut-water nearly to the pilot-house. A stream of water coming from the starboard side told that the steam-pump was necessary to keep her afloat; but no person save a boy about eighteenyears of age, who was at the wheel, could be seen.
"She must be pretty nigh as short-handed as we are," Bob said; and then came a hail.
"Brig ahoy!"
"Ahoy on the tug!"
"Can you send me some men? The steamer is sinking, and I am the only one on board."
"Who's running the engine?" Bob shouted.
"I am, and trying to steer at the same time."
"There's only one man an' three boys here. Can't you manage to come alongside?"
The helmsman waved his hand as if in reply and disappeared, when the steamer's speed was checked. Then he entered the pilot-house again, going below once more to stop the machinery entirely when within fifty yards of the brig.
By this means the tug was brought so near that a heaving-line could be thrown aboard, and ten minutes later she was lying alongside the Bonita as a tired, hungry-looking boy stepped over the brig's rail.
"I reckon you've been havin' a decently tough time," Bob said by way of starting the conversation.
"Since yesterday morning I've been trying to keep her afloat. If some craft hadn't hove in sight to-day I should have given up, and probably gone to the bottom with her."
"How did you get in such a mess?"
"An ocean steamer ran into us at sunrise yesterday. Before she could clear herself every one of the tug's crew, except myself, climbed onboard over the bow. I was the engineer, and had an assistant. He was on duty at the time, and I asleep in the after cabin. The shock of the collision threw me out of the bunk and stunned me, I reckon, for when I came on deck there was no craft in sight. Since then I've kept steam on so the pump would work, and run in the hope of sighting some craft."
"Where do you hail from?"
"Philadelphia. The Sea Bird is a new boat, and we were taking her to Cuba."
"How long have you been out?"
"Five days from the Capes."
"Then we've made more of a southin' than I reckoned on," Bob said half to himself, and seeing a look of inquiry on the stranger's face he gave a brief account of the Bonita from the time the boys came aboard; saying, in conclusion: "We're better off than you, for the brig is sound; so you'd best bring your traps over the rail an' let the steamer sink when she gets ready. I reckon with your help we can crawl in toward the mainland an' make a tidy bit of salvage at the same time. What's your name?"
"Joseph Taylor. The only work I have ever done on ship-board has been in the engine-room, and I'm afraid I sha'n't make much of a sailor."
"You've got strength an' pluck," Bob said approvingly, "an' that's enough."
"But I don't like to give up trying to save the Sea Bird. She isn't stove below the water-line, is new, and is worth fifteen thousand dollars."
"I'm afraid, lad, that we haven't got force enough to do very much inthe way of ship-building;" and Bob shook his head gravely as if to say he thought it a hopeless case. "Howsomever, while there's no wind we sha'n't be wastin' time, so it won't do any harm to have a look at her."
Joe Taylor led the way over the rail, and the three boys, eager to see the little steamer, followed directly behind Bob, Jim whispering to his friends:
"If this cruise don't end pretty soon we shall have a reg'lar cripples' crew aboard. Here's me, who come from the Mary Walker; you, that never belonged to any craft; the old Bonita, with nobody to work her; Bob, as a remnant of the Trade Wind, an' now another feller with a sinkin' tug. It's a nice crowd to talk about salvage when they can't help theirselves!"
"Just let us get ashore once more, an' I'll be satisfied to have somebody else make money by taking these crafts into port!" and Walter leaped on to the deck of the tug in a discontented way, as if he fancied the shuttered steamer had brought fresh trouble and complications upon them.
The litter of splintered timbers, loose ropes and general wreckage on the forward deck of the Sea Bird gave her the appearance of having suffered more injury than really was the case. Instead of a sharp, narrow bow, as is usual on crafts of her kind, the hull flared very decidedly from the water-line to the deck, thus giving her greater carrying capacity; and it was this upper portion which had been cut into, leaving the lower part in fair condition.
All this Bob saw at a glance after going on board, and he at once begana careful examination with a view to ascertaining how badly her seams had been strained.
"What amount of coal have you got?" he asked, coming on deck after spending fully half an hour in the hold.
"Enough to run three or four days."
"That wouldn't carry her to the Capes, if your reckonin' is right as to the time she's been out; but we might manage to make some nearer port," he said half to himself; and then added, in a louder tone: "I calculate the hole might be patched up with spare canvas an' plenty of tar; but we'd need fair weather till the job was done."
"If you could manage that part of it I can tow the brig, providing one of your party steers," said the engineer eagerly. "Why not tackle the job? If the weather should change it would be only the loss of a few hours' time."
Before committing himself to such a plan Bob made one more examination of the shattered timbers, looked again in the hold, and then, after lighting his pipe in the most deliberate manner, replied decidedly:
"We'll do the best we can, lad, pervidin' the balance of the Bonita's crew is agreeable; an' by patchin' the steamer up I reckon it'll be possible to pull the brig out of what looks like a bad mess."
He gazed inquiringly at the boys as he ceased speaking, and Harry, answering for the others as well as himself, said in a reasonablycheerful tone:
"We'll do all we know how; and it won't be our fault if we don't succeed!"
But even as he spoke he doubted the wisdom of taking another burden on their already overloaded shoulders; and that this opinion was shared by Jim and Walter could be told from the expression of their faces.
Nevertheless, Bob's intentions were good. With the tug the brig could be towed in a calm, and her progress stayed entirely, or checked, during the hours of darkness when the danger of striking a reef would be greatest. An engineer and a helmsman was all the force needed by such an arrangement, and thus the voyage might be brought to a speedy conclusion without other aid.
Although the three boys had agreed with Bob that an attempt be made toso far repair the tug that she might be gotten into port, all of them believed she should have been left to sink. By making Joe Taylor a member of the crew the brig could be worked under lower sails, and there was little doubt but that she would soon reach the coast; whereas, by trying to save the steamer both crafts might be lost.
The old sailor had already decided what should be done, and when the question was settled he went at once to the lazaret for such materials as would be needed. Joe Taylor disappeared in the Sea Bird's engine-room, and the boys were left standing by the rail, where they could discuss the matter privately.
"If we didn't have hands enough to work the brig I'd like to know how much better we're off by taking charge of another craft?" Walter asked disconsolately; and Jim replied, in what he intended should be a cheery tone:
"Bob knows what he's about. If the tug is kept afloat she can tow us in."
"Unless her coal gives out," Harry added; "and then we'll be worse off than before."
"We shall only have lost jes' so many days, for she can be abandoned atany time," Jim replied.
"And it is the possible loss of those days which makes me feel that we ought not to make any attempt at saving her. Walter's father and mine would be willing to pay what she cost if they could find us, and every hour makes their sorrow greater."
"Well," Jim said slowly, "it can't be helped, so we might as well look cheerful. Neither Bob nor the engineer would listen to us if we said the tug ought to be abandoned, and our only chance is to hurry up with the work."
"I don't see why Bob even thinks of such a thing." And Walter spoke in a tone of discontent. "Here we are so far from the coast that the tug was five days out at the time of the collision, which means ten for a sailing vessel, and with half enough coal to get her back. What good will it do to patch her up if we can't keep on steam?"
"That's somethin' I ain't able to answer," Jim replied gravely. "These old sailors are queer fish, an' nobody can ever tell what kind of a scheme they're likely to strike. This much is certain, though. Bob wouldn't listen to us, 'cause he thinks we don't know the meanin' of sich work."
"It seems to me that it would be better to abandon the brig, which we can't navigate, and go on the tug as far us her coal will carry us," Harry suggested; but to such an idea the young fisherman made the most decided objections.
"To leave a sound craft for one that's pretty nigh knocked to pieceswould be foolish. I'd rather take my chances ten days' sail from the coast on the brig than go aboard a steamer like her for a trip half the distance. We're pretty sure of keepin' afloat here, but on the tug, Davy Jones' Locker seems mighty near!"
By this time Bob had come on deck with a spare studding-sail, and the boys were prevented from holding any further discussion by the necessity of immediate action.
There was not so much as a breath of air stirring. The sea was like glass, save for the lazy swell which caused both crafts to rise and fall in regular measure, and everything seemed favorable for the proposed task.
"It ain't sich a big job, lads," the old sailor said, as, dropping the canvas on deck, he made his way toward the carpenter's-room. "I've seen crafts bunged up worse'n she is, an' yet finish the biggest end of a voyage."
When Bob had collected such tools as might be needed he summoned all hands, and the work was begun by spreading a double thickness of canvas over the shattered portion of the hull outside, fastening it down firmly with copper nails. This temporary stoppage of the leak was carried as far below the surface as was possible without diving, and when the aperture had been thus closed a heavy coat of tar was put on over the entire canvas. Outside of this, again, were nailed light boards which could easily be bent to conform with the curve of the hull, and then another coat of tar.
This portion of the work was hardly completed when night came, and thelaborers rested only long enough to partake of a hearty meal, prepared by Jim, after which the old sailor said:
"We are pretty nigh through, lads, an' it stands us in hand to finish the job while this calm lasts. We've got to brace our canvas on the inside so it'll stand a heavy sea without givin' way, an' we can work below in the night as well as after sunrise."
The air was so still that the flame of a candle would hardly have flickered, and the motion of the sea had subsided until the two crafts rose and fell without so much chafing as would even rub the paint. There was no reason why all hands, save one to stand watch, should not work in the hold, for they could be of no assistance on deck; and leaving Harry as lookout in case a steamer should pass within hailing distance, the remainder of the party followed the old sailor.
By tearing out the bulk-head of the Bonita's forecastle Bob secured such timbers as were needed, and with every one working industriously the task was completed before midnight.
A sort of frame-work had been erected on the side where the timbers were stove, and directly against the canvas. As a matter of course it was impossible to fasten this except at the ends, and a heavy sea would soon wrench it off; therefore, braces running up from the keelson and down from the deck were put in to hold the whole in place.
This was by no means a substantial job, as even the most inexperiencedknew. In anything approaching stormy weather the tug would soon founder; but during such a "Dutchman's hurricane" as was now raging she would be as buoyant as when first launched.
That the water no longer made its way through the hull of the Sea Bird could be told from the fact that the siphon, which had been in constant use to keep the furnace from being flooded, now pumped her almost dry, and the old sailor announced as his belief that she was in fit condition to weather any thing save a full gale.
"We won't lose much time gettin' under way," he added, after an inspection had been made. "How soon can you raise steam?"
"There's half a head now," the engineer replied, "and in ten minutes we can start."
"Very well. While you are lookin' after the engine we'll get the hawsers out. The tug must tow alongside, unless the sea gets too high; for seein's how Jim an' me have got to do all the steerin', we're obliged to work it so's to catch a cat-nap now and then."
Joe Taylor went into the engine-room, and before he had raised the necessary pressure two stout hawsers were made fast fore and aft, while more fenders were lowered to prevent chafing.
"Are you goin' south any further?" Jim asked when the work was completed.
"No; we'll haul around an' steer due west, now that it don't matter which direction the wind comes from. Harry an' I'll take the firstwatch, so you an' Walt'd better turn in, for it's little sleep we'll get the balance of this cruise, even if we scoop in every spare minute."
Those comprising the watch below did not wait for this suggestion to be made a second time. The labor of the past fifteen hours had very nearly exhausted them, and their heads hardly touched the pillows before both were sleeping soundly.
By the arrangement Bob had made, Joe Taylor was the only one who could not be relieved from duty, and when the old sailor went to consult him as to how it would be possible to keep the tug running, he replied:
"We can fix that easily enough. I'll let you know when I can't keep my eyes open any longer, and then take cat-naps on one of the bunkers. If you ring the gong once every fifteen or twenty minutes I shall be awakened to see that everything is working properly. It's risky, I know; but under the circumstances there's nothing else that can be done."
Then he announced that there was a full head of steam, and Bob went into the pilot-house. The Bonita's helm had been lashed amidships, and, save in the event of very heavy weather, both crafts could readily be steered from the tug.
After explaining the bell signals to the old sailor Joe started the machinery, and for the time being all desire for slumber was driven from Harry's eyes by the pleasure of knowing that at last the brig was heading directly toward home.
Very likely Joe Taylor was affected in a similar manner, because,although having had no rest for many hours, he stood at his post during Bob's watch without intimating the need of sleep.
The weather could not have been more propitious than when what was hoped would prove to be the homeward cruise began. It is true the night was dark, even the stars being obscured by fleecy clouds; but not a breath of wind ruffled the waters, and the waves had sunk to rest.
The Sea Bird towed the heavily laden brig at the rate of six or seven knots an hour, and it seemed to Harry that nothing could prevent their sighting the mainland before the tug's coal was exhausted. He walked fore and aft on the brig's deck in order to keep awake; but during the entire watch his services were not required, and at three o'clock in the morning Bob shouted:
"Call Jim and Walt. We won't take too long stretches on this voyage, an' my eyes feel as if they were glued together."
The sleepers were awakened after some difficulty, and, when Jim went into the Sea Bird's pilot-house Bob gave him his orders as follows:
"Keep her as she heads, due west, an' have your eyes open for signs of land. I don't reckon there is any very near; but for all that we may be to the east'ard of the Bahamas, an' it would be pretty tough to bring up on them just now. The brig drags a bit an' that must be allowed for; but you'll soon get the hang of it."
Then the old sailor went into the Bonita's cabin, and Jim was left aloneat the wheel, trying to drive away the slumber which still hung heavily on his eyelids.
Walter adopted Harry's plan for keeping awake; but the exertion was great and his body weary; therefore, in five minutes after the other watch had gone below he went into the pilot-house, stretching himself out on the cushioned locker as he said:
"I'm only going to rest myself a little, and won't go to sleep. It don't seem as if we were below ten—min—minutes—before——"
The sentence was finished with what sounded suspiciously like a snore, and Jim made no effort to arouse him. He knew by his own condition how difficult it was to remain awake, and griping the spokes of the wheel more tightly to quicken the circulation of blood, he muttered:
"Let him take comfort if he can; there's really no need of both standing watch."
During the next ten minutes he alternately tried to peer through the dense gloom, and looked at the compass-card, which was faintly illumined by a tiny lamp. The throbbing of the engine, the long, waving lines which marked the faint swell, and the whispering of the night air lulled the senses, despite every effort to perform his duties faithfully, until, without being conscious of the fact, his eyes closed in slumber even while standing at the wheel.
In the engine-room Joe Taylor was battling against the same desire to which Jim had yielded. He shoveled coal, raked the fires, polishedportions of the machinery which already shone like silver, and performed other needless tasks in order to prevent sleep from overcoming him, but ignorant of the fact that both brig and tug were running wild.
The first hour of the watch passed, and yet the occupants of the pilot-house remained unconscious. Leaning over the wheel, with his head resting between the spokes, Jim heeded not the gray light in the sky which heralded the approach of day.
Had his eyes been open he would have seen through the rapidly-vanishing gloom a long, low, black line which half encircled the two crafts and told that they were running into a harbor or bay.
But he slept on, and each turn of the screw carried them nearer and nearer the dark mass until suddenly the brig staggered, rolled to starboard for an instant, when the tug came to a full stop with a crash and a quiver which sent the helmsman reeling backward against his companion as a rush and roar of steam from the engine-room told of a second disaster.
As may be imagined, Jim felt very wide awake when he staggered to hisfeet, after being thrown so violently against Walter that both rolled to the floor, and his first thought was that all the trouble had originated in the engine-room.
The escaping steam enveloped both brig and tug in a fog-like vapor so dense as to be almost stifling, and for several moments it was impossible to distinguish objects a dozen feet distant.
That the old sailor had gained the Bonita's deck with wonderful celerity could be told from the shouts of inquiry which he uttered in rapid succession; and before the first bewilderment, caused by the shock, had passed away, Jim was outside the pilot-house trying to answer the questions.
"Steamer ahoy! What's the matter?" Bob shouted.
"I don't know; but it seems as if the tug has exploded somewhere!"
"That can't be if she's still afloat," Bob cried testily, and from the sound of his voice Jim knew he was making his way toward the rail.
"I must have fallen asleep for a second, an' was awakened by bein'knocked down," Jim said penitently.
At that instant a dark figure could be seen coming from the engine-room, and a faint voice cried:
"One of the boiler-tubes blew out when we struck the rock. Somebody must help draw the fires, for I'm burned pretty bad about the arms and face."
"Struck a rock?" Bob shouted fiercely, as he made his way toward Joe, who had retreated aft to free his lungs of the deadly vapor. "Are we aground, Jim?"
"Not that I know of," the young fisherman replied in a tone of bewilderment. "My eyes couldn't have been shut more'n a minute; an' there was nothin' in sight when I closed 'em."
"Get out the lead-line while I see if Joe is hurt very much."
The steam was yet pouring from the engine-room in such volumes as to prevent a view from either side, and Jim groped his way to the brig, Walter following close at his heels like one dazed. Master Libby remembered having seen the lead-line under the port rail forward, and but a short search was necessary to find it. Fully expecting they were yet in deep water, he reeled off twenty fathoms or more before casting, and to his surprise the greater portion remained on the rail instead of slipping through his fingers.
"Why, we're—we're on a shoal!" he stammered as he pulled in the cord until the weight could be felt. "There isn't much more than two fathoms out."
"An' as the brig don't draw less'n fourteen or fifteen feet, we cancount on your havin' slept pretty nigh through the whole watch!" Bob said sharply.
Jim made no reply. He realized now that his eyes must have been closed many minutes instead of one, and was well aware that all which had happened was the result of his own carelessness.
"I'm in for it now," he whispered disconsolately to Walter. "Even if Bob don't use up a rope's end on my back I'll know that by goin' to sleep I've shut off our chances of gettin' home."
"I must be just as much to blame as you," Walter replied, in a trembling voice. "My business was to stand watch, and the very first thing I did was to go to sleep."
"But I had the helm, you see, an' oughter kept the sharpest lookout. I wish Bob would turn to an' give me the worst whalin' I ever got, 'cause it seems as if it might make me feel better."
"Can't we get the brig off somehow?" Walter asked with a sob.
"Seein's how the crew's so slim it don't seem very likely, an' everybody will say I cast 'em away when we was sure of gettin' home."
"They'll have to say the same of me," Walter added, as if this thought might give his companion some consolation. "Let's go an' have it out right away."
With clasped hands the two boys walked aft, fully expecting to receive a terrible punishment for their almost criminal carelessness; but noblows, however severe, could have caused as much pain as was already in their hearts.
Time was too precious just then for the old sailor to spend any with the authors of this last trouble, even had he been so disposed. Matters in the engine-room required immediate attention, and Joe was ready to venture amid the scalding vapor once more; therefore he followed, to render all possible assistance.
"Bend your head low, and keep this bit of waste over your mouth," the engineer said, thrusting a roll of cotton-threads in the sailor's hand as he went below.
The engine-room was filled with steam, to breathe which would be severe agony, if not death; but neither of the brave fellows faltered. By keeping their faces covered as much as possible they were able to continue on, groping their way amid what would have seemed like a dense fog but for the intense heat, while the roaring of steam as it escaped gave warning of further disaster if precautionary measures were much longer delayed.
Bob was unfamiliar with the interior of the tug; therefore it was necessary the engineer should lead the way, and after no slight trouble they succeeded in reaching the boiler from which the vapor was pouring in clouds.
The most important work was to draw the fires, and by following Joe'sexample Bob so far aided in this that five minutes later the glowing coals were in the ash-pan or strewn on the cement flooring immediately in front of the furnace door.
Short though this time was, it seemed very long in such a place, and ten seconds after the task had been accomplished the two were leaning over the rail aft, drinking in long draughts of pure, cool air.
When they had recovered from the effects of the heat sufficiently to pay attention to their surroundings, it was possible to see where Jim's carelessness had brought the brig and tug. The steam had thinned down until it hardly obstructed their view, and at the same time day had been approaching so rapidly that near-by objects could be plainly distinguished.
The brig was on a level keel in the cove of a small island, or key, the low-lying land, which was covered with luxuriant vegetation, hardly more than three hundred yards distant in either direction. Had Jim tried to steer her into this sheltered spot he could not have done it more exactly; and the fact that she would lie there without thumping, except when the wind blew from the east, was the only bit of comfort Bob could extract from the situation.
The boys were on the Bonita's forecastle silently gazing at the odd foliage everywhere around, while Joe and the old sailor stood on the after deck of the tug, the latter saying, as he concluded a long survey of the scene:
"It might be worse, for a fact; but I reckon both crafts will be tied up here till we're sick of lookin' at mangrove trees."
"Where do you suppose we are?" Joe asked.
"This must be some part of the Bahamas. Look at the keys all around. There is but one other place anywhere near the spot we oughter be which shows up like it, an' that is the Florida reefs. We couldn't a' made them without sightin' Cuba or the Bahamas, consequently we must be further to the nor'ard."
"Should we be near any seaport?"
"Nassau is somewhere about; but it may be two or three hundred miles away, an' seein's how I can't take an observation, we wouldn't know whether it was north or south. Did you get burned very bad?"
"I thought so at first," Joe replied with a laugh; "but I guess it's only skin deep—more painful than serious."
"You got out of it luckily; how can the engine be patched up again?"
"If no more damage has been done than the blowing out of a tube I will soon have it in working order."
"We'll get something to eat, and then see what's to be done. Jim!" he added, raising his voice, "cook the best breakfast you know how, to make up for this mess you've brought us into."
Master Libby, who had been expecting a sound rating at the very least, because of his carelessness, was so thoroughly surprised at the friendly tone that he lost no time in obeying this order, and, as a partial atonement for his misdeeds, prepared a meal which in quantity and variety would have been sufficient for twenty hungry men.
The sorrow which all hands felt because of the disaster did not preventthem from doing full justice to the unskillfully prepared food, and the table had been relieved of a large portion of its burden before any attempt at conversation was made.
"While you're seein' how much damage has been done to the tug, me an' the boys will get an anchor out aft so's the brig can't work further inshore." Bob said to the engineer. "If you can get up steam, an' the tug's afloat, it oughtn't take very long to pull us off this sand-bank."
"So far as I know it's only a case of blowing out one of the tubes," Joe replied.
"Can it be fixed without much work?"
"Yes, by driving in a piece of soft wood to hold the steam; but of course it'll make no end of bother until it is repaired properly. For a job like pulling the Bonita off the mud a plug will be as serviceable as a new tube, which can't be had until we reach some port."
"Then you're to find out exactly what's needed, an' after the brig is in deep water agin we can lay here a day or two to get things ship-shape. Perhaps some craft will come in sight, an' we'll be able to find out just where we are."
"I'll let you know——"
Joe stopped speaking suddenly as what sounded very like a human voice rang out on the still air, and in obedience to his gesture all listened intently until it was repeated.
"Brig ahoy! ahoy!"
Bob actually looked alarmed. He had believed the key to be uninhabited,and, knowing there was no craft in sight when they came below, all his superstitious fears were aroused by the cry. Just for an instant he hesitated, as if not daring to go on deck, and then ran up the companion-ladder, closely followed by the remainder of the party.
Surely there was nothing in that which met their gaze to cause alarm. On the shore stood three men, and when the old sailor made his appearance one of them repeated the hail.
"Ahoy on shore," he replied.
"Send a boat, will you? Our craft went away leaving us here, and we've been cooped up on this island nearly a week."
"It won't do much good for us to take you aboard. We're hard and fast aground."
"Somethin' to eat is what we're wantin' pretty bad," the man on shore cried; and Bob said, as he turned to Joe:
"I reckon we oughter go after 'em; but somehow I don't jes' believe his yarn."
"Why not?"
"'Cause there's no reason why an honest vessel would stop here long enough for her crew to go ashore; an' then, agin, they haven't got a sailor cut about 'em."
Having thus given words to his suspicions, Bob set about lowering the Trade Wind's yawl with as much alacrity as if some one in sore distress stood in need of their services, and five minutes later he and Joe were rowing ashore.
The strangers stepped into the boat the instant her bow grated on thesand with the air of persons who are conferring rather than receiving a favor, and making no attempt to push the craft into deep water.
"It's a sailor's rule for the last aboard to shove off," Bob said with just a shade of anger in his tone, and the man in the bow leaped ashore to perform that duty, after which the yawl was pulled toward the brig.
The three boys were standing at the rail forward watching all which occurred, but saying nothing until the boat was near enough to admit of their seeing the strangers clearly. Then Jim whispered:
"That's what I call a mighty hard-lookin' crowd, an' I don't wonder Bob says they haven't got the sailor cut. I wouldn't like to meet either one of 'em alone in the dark."
Two of the three strangers appeared to be Americans, but of a disagreeable type, while the third was unmistakably a Mexican; and it was this last upon whom Jim looked with the most suspicion.
There was no further opportunity for him to criticise them, however, since the boat was rapidly approaching the brig, and Bob had already shouted:
"Heave that gangway-ladder over, an' then set about gettin' up another breakfast."
The first order was quickly obeyed, and Jim went into the galley to comply with the second as the new-comers stepped on board and halted near the mainmast to gaze curiously around, as if taking a mental inventory of the brig's general condition.