CHAPTER XIV
WILL THE RACE BE LOST?
Ralph West hung to the tie-hook at the bow with all his might and main, and succeeded in staying on theRocket.
Cries went up from the thing in front, which was a motor boat with several men aboard, while Lanky Wallace yelled as loudly as he could to attract Frank’s attention to the fact that Paul Bird had gone over.
But Frank needed no cry, nor warning, to tell him what had happened. As he threw theRocketso far over to evade a collision with the other boat—and succeeded, missing the other craft by the width of a hair, he saw Paul thrown by centrifugal force into the water.
Frank knew that Paul could swim. But—was it possible that Paul had been thrown with enough force to cast him against the other boat, or might the other boat hit him in the water and thus bring unconsciousness to him?
There was no time to look around. No time to go into reverse, for he would first have to check speedforward. No time to throw a lifeline or a belt. It was swifter, surer action that was demanded at this moment.
All the alertness, the ability to think quickly and to think surely, the mental strength of Frank Allen, this boy who had been through just as tight places on the field and the track, who had several times before thought himself out of a hole, came to his aid now.
Holding the wheel hard over, Frank sent theRocketon a complete circle, and within a radius of about one hundred yards he brought the boat back again toward the downstream, but above the point where the collision had so nearly taken place.
During this narrow circle, with centrifugal force tending to cast Ralph West off the bow of theRocket, Lanky Wallace was holding tight to the gunwale, stooping low in an effort to keep his center of gravity close to the boat.
As theRocketnow faced downstream again, Frank cut off the speed, and reached for the searchlight. But the plug had fallen out in the trip around, and no light was cast forward!
“Paul! Paul! Are you all right?” yelled Frank as soon as he realized that his chance of seeing the boy was gone.
“Here!” came a voice from the water, and Frank got the propeller into reverse, churning the Harrapininto a wild foam in order not to go past the point and also in order that he might not run down his friend.
Suddenly a hand shot up out of the water, and Lanky grabbed quickly to give the boy help. In another minute a very wet Paul Bird came into the boat from the waters of the Harrapin River.
“Wow! Some wetting!” he gasped.
In the meanwhile the other boat had gone its way quietly, or it seemed quietly, for no sound had come from it after the cry that preceded the sudden swerve of theRocketwhich averted the collision.
There was no chance to continue down the river without lights, and Frank called to Lanky to hold the wheel while he made the repair.
However, Lanky Wallace was not to be denied that single thing which he could do, for it had become his part of the operation of theRocketto see that the lights were in order.
Instead of obeying Frank and taking hold of the wheel, Lanky, knowing what had happened, or surmising it as well as Frank, groped his way to the searchlight and felt around for the loose wire. He found it in a moment, felt along the fallen wire until he found the plug, and slipped it back into the socket of the swinging search. It almost seemed that they heard the swish of the light when the connection was made and the beam suddenly shot out and lighted the Harrapin in a bright glare.
“Where is that other boat?” asked Lanky Wallace, looking around and moving the light to and fro over the river. But no motor boat was in sight. Advantage had been taken, if there was any advantage wanted by the occupants thereof, and it had disappeared.
“Paul, throw on that rubber coat that’s in the locker aft,” Frank said to his friend. “I’m as sorry as can be that we gave you that ducking, but it couldn’t be helped. I had to dodge those fellows, whoever they were. Wonder why they didn’t stop to help—surely they knew that some one had gone overboard.”
“I’ll be all right in a little while,” answered Paul. “I’ll get into this slicker. Keep her going, Frank. Let’s see if we can’t miss everything between here and Coville.”
He said it with a hearty laughing sound in his voice that brought about a feeling of cheeriness to the others, who had become nervous as a result of the double incident.
Frank put the propeller into gear again with the engine, and theRocketanswered as the steady muffled sound of the exhaust told them the engine ran smoothly and was ready to do its part of this arduous night’s duties.
As theRocketregained its speed, Frank carefully wiped the surface of the river clean with the brightbeams of the electric light, and, seeing nothing as they proceeded, he allowed the speed to increase until, within a few minutes, they were again rushing headlong down the Harrapin.
“Hope that delay won’t cost too much,” breathed Frank through gritted teeth as he firmly grasped the wheel and held theRocketdown the center of the river.
Paul and Ralph were no longer lying forward on their stomachs, trying to see things first. Instead, they were both seated firmly aft of the cockpit, each holding a rope so that no more such accidents should happen.
Paul’s teeth chattered for a while, as the wind struck against him, but the slicker soon had him warmed, in prisoning the heat of his body, and though the clothes were soaked thoroughly, he was suffering no inconvenience.
Frank’s eyes were even more watchful of the river than they had been before, and his grip on the wheel was firmer, every muscle tensed, ready for action.
A log or two came swinging into sight, floating, but as they were moving downstream with the steadily flowing current with the narrower part toward the boat, he was easily able to evade them, though each of them brought a slight twinge of nervousness.
“How long have we been coming? How far are we?” asked Lanky.
“It’s quite a distance yet to Coville,” muttered Frank, speaking slowly. “We ought to make it pretty soon, but it’s going to take speed to get us there and back again, I’m afraid. I only wish there had been some quicker way to get to that drugstore than this. And, the worst of it is, that we have to go back yet, and we’ll be going against the current.”
“Don’t let that worry you, Frank,” replied Lanky reassuringly. “TheRocket’sshowing what’s in her. We’ll get back in nothing flat.”
It was quite true that theRocketwas showing what was in her, for the bow stood far out of the water now, with the load well aft, and the wash of the river showed behind them that they were cutting a slight, though rapid, furrow through the water.
Time brings about a healing influence, and time also brings about a lack of watchfulness. Just so it was this night.
As the conversation between the boys went on, not spiritedly, but continuous nevertheless, Frank’s grip on the wheel was relaxed, though his eyes seemed never to leave the river ahead.
They came to a hairpin bend in the stream, one which was famous as a place for picnics on the point which jutted into the Harrapin. The searchlight, fixed ahead, swung around as Frank negotiated, or started to negotiate, the bend which he had never met before while in command of a craft.
Like a huge mountain there suddenly loomed from out of the darkness a great bulk which blocked their path!
“Look out!” yelled Lanky, as the thing came into sight.
But Frank had seen it, had seen the lights on either side, had seen the tremendous bulk of the thing which looked down upon them frowningly.
Again the call came to the relaxed muscles to act. Again the mind of wearied Frank Allen awoke to the necessity for dodging the danger which impended. Again Frank’s alertness was to the fore.
This time Lanky was ready to help, and a willing and sure hand he gave as he swung his long body low to the deck of theRocket, and braced against Frank who stood behind the wheel, turning it as hard as possible, while his foot reached down to cut off the speed of the engine.
An old-time barge, its broad, straight-front nose high out of the water, was floating easily along upstream, with a tugboat at its side, the steady puff-puff of the tug plainly heard as the rush of the wind died down.
This time there was some co-operation, however, from those on the other craft. They had seen the flashlight ahead of them in the bend, and the helmsman of the tug had been wondering what it was. He had been alert to any danger.
There was a clanging and clinking of bells, and then the sudden swish of the water as the towboat’s rudder went into reverse and the engineer tried hard to slow the pace of the great load which was hitched alongside.
TheRocket’spropeller was again in reverse, for the second time within a very short while, and the motor boat came against the side of the towboat, where great manila ropes stood outward from the gunwales, and slid with a bump to the midships of the tug.
“Hi, there!” called a heavy voice from the wheel-room of the tug. “What’s down there? Why not a signal?”
“Beg your pardon, captain,” called back Frank. “I didn’t see you soon enough. I thought the river was clear and did not slow down much to make this bend.”
“Go easy, boy,” answered the man at the wheel of the tug, as half a dozen faces showed up in the dim lights here and there on the sturdy craft. “Always take that bend same as you would in an auto. Can’t always tell about these roads.”
There was a heartiness about the voice that was reassuring to the boys on theRocket’sdeck—the heartiness that is so often met among sea-faring men.
The boys jollied and talked with the man aboard the tug for a few minutes, long enough to be courteous, and thanked the skipper for his work in holding back the speed of the huge bulk until they could get control of their own craft.
Then Frank got theRocketunder way again, and was soon well past the obstacle, past the hairpin bend of the river, and headed downstream again toward Coville.
“There it is!” Paul Bird, his spirits still high notwithstanding his ducking in the river, was the first to sight the far-off lights of the town to which they were going.
All the boys looked through the darkness, past the strong beam of the searchlight as it tried to find everything on the surface of the water, and saw the flickering lights of the town.
“But I can’t understand,” Frank was still thinking of the incident, “what became of that motor boat back there and why it disappeared right at the moment when most folks would have stopped to help.”
“Guess they were like a whole lot of folks on the roads,” replied Lanky Wallace. “You see lots of them in cars who won’t stop to give a fellow a helping hand when they see he’s in trouble.”
Fifteen minutes more of steady running of theRocketbrought them to the landing place at Coville, and there, standing under an electric light, was a man waving to them to come to him.
It was the druggist with the package for the doctor at the hospital in Columbia.
“Doc told me to meet you boys down here at the wharf—and here is the package. Keep your motor running and turn her upstream right away. And here’s another package I brought. It’s a lot of cold drinks for you and a sandwich for each one. You’ll need them, boys.”
“That’s mighty good of you.” Frank felt very grateful to the man for his kindness. “Send the bill up to the doctor and it’ll be paid right away. Thank you ever so much.”
Lanky reached out for the packages as theRocketran in close to the wharf, running alongside, Frank holding a foot off so that they might slip easily by and start back up the Harrapin with the least possible loss of time. Minutes were counting now. Frank realized it, and feared it as well.
“Gee, that was good of him,” Paul was munching on one of the sandwiches, theRocketback in the middle of the river, the engine humming at full speed, and the bow of the motor craft holding high out of the water as it moved rapidly forward.
Mile after mile slipped from under them, Frank’s grip on the wheel sure and steady, while Paul andRalph lay back and went to sleep. Lanky, though, was alert to every movement of the boat.
“Here’s where we passed that boat, about,” he muttered to Frank, when it seemed that many, many hours had passed.
Just then the motor spit, puffed, throbbed, popped at the exhaust, and came to a dead stop. Something had gone wrong. Frank recognized that series of noises of a gasoline engine. It could be nothing else. Out on the Harrapin, miles away from home, fighting their way back to Columbia as hard as they could, they were out of gasoline!