CHAPTER XXIASHORE AT LAST
It looked as if Andy was right, for both lions now had their forepaws on the rail of the ship as if ready to leap down on the improvised raft and its occupants.
But just at that moment the keel of theCoryandastruck bottom once more, and an instant later the water-logged yacht swung around and away from the raft. The lions were left at the rail, and they roared savagely in their combined perplexity and disappointment. Evidently they knew not what should be their next move.
But those on the raft could give the beasts no further consideration. The force of the hurricane sent the bit of wreckage whirling around and around and how the sea foamed and boiled on every side of the raft.
“Hold tight!” yelled Jack to the others. “Hold tight!”
Andy heeded the command. But Ira Small, who was moving forward and for an instant hadlet go of one of the ropes, slipped to the edge and before he recovered had disappeared in a shower of flying spray.
“Small is gone!” muttered Andy, hoarsely. It was all he could do to keep himself on the wreckage.
Jack did not answer. He, too, had seen the mishap to the lanky sailor and he realized that in such a tempest it would be next to impossible for Small to save himself. He grabbed hold of the loose end of one of the ropes and, tying this fast under his arms, passed the flashlight to his cousin.
“Keep this on me if you can,” he said, and leaped overboard.
It was a heroic move to make, for the young major knew that he was taking his life in his hands. As the light shot through the flying spray, he caught a glimpse of the hands of the sailor a few yards away.
“Help! Help!” yelled Small. “Throw me a rope!”
“Keep up! I’m coming!” yelled Jack in return.
But at that instant Ira Small disappeared beneath a mountainous wave that rolled over both him and Jack and threatened to engulf the raft. It was more by luck than anything else that Jackreached the lanky sailor even before both of them came up to the top of the wave. Ira Small was beating the water feebly.
“I—I—got a—a cramp, or somethin’,” he spluttered. “It’s in—my legs. Save me, lad, save me!”
“Hold tight, and we’ll get back to the raft!” panted Jack. “I’ve got a rope under my arms. Can you hold yourself?”
“I—guess so, although that cramp is something terrible!” gasped the poor sailor, and Jack saw his mouth twist in agony.
Another wave came along at that instant, bringing with it the raft, to which Andy clung with one hand while spraying around the rays of the flashlight with the other. The light struck the pair in the water for just a moment, and then the fury of the hurricane sent the raft forward with a jerk that was keenly felt by Jack. Then the rope parted, and the young major found himself helpless in the boiling and foaming waters with a bit of the rope dangling under him and Ira Small clinging desperately to his back.
“Kin you make it, lad? Kin you make it?” spluttered the old tar.
“No. The rope broke,” answered Jack.
“Then we’re bound for Davy Jones’ Locker!”moaned Ira Small. “Can’t you save us somehow, lad? Kin you save us somehow? Remember them thirteen rocks an’ the pirates’ gold. Save me, an’ you kin have all that gold.” And now the old sailor acted as if he were losing his mind. He could swim but little, and the thought of being cast away in the ocean and in the darkness terrorized him.
But if Small was ready to give up, Jack was not. Weighted down as he was by his clothing and the rope which he could not unfasten just then, and also by the form of the sailor, he continued to struggle desperately in an effort to keep afloat. Ship and improvised raft had both disappeared in the darkness, and he could see only a few feet in any direction.
He battled bravely, and wave after wave lifted the young major and his helpless burden up and through that boiling and foaming sea, which denoted that land was close at hand. Then he, like Randy and Fred, felt the sand beneath his feet and took fresh courage.
“We’ve struck land!” he cried. “Hold tight for a minute longer, Small, and I think we’ll be all right.”
Another wave swept forward, carrying the pair well up the beach. Then, watching his chance,Jack, with Ira Small still clinging to him, struggled madly to gain some sort of foothold on the shore.
In the meantime, Andy, left alone on the raft, did not know what to do. He used the searchlight as best he could, and when the rope suddenly parted he retained presence of mind enough to throw a life-preserver which was on the raft in the direction his cousin had taken. Then the waves and the flying spray cut out the view on all sides of him, and though he wiped off the glass of the searchlight and played the rays in all directions, he could see nothing but the rolling ocean.
“They are gone! All of them are gone!” he murmured, in agony. “First Gif and Spouter and Ralph, and now all the others! I’m all alone!”
The poor boy was in such a state of mind that he was almost ready to cast himself into the sea and end it all. He was trying to think of what to do when, without warning, the raft was caught up by the waves and a few seconds later was grounded on the beach. It went back into the wallow of the sea, but the next wave carried it still higher.
“Ashore! Ashore!” cried Andy, in amazement. And then, before the raft could againslide back into the ocean, he took a flying leap forward, landing in water less than a foot deep and hobbled rapidly to a point of safety. As he did this, the raft was sucked back into the ocean and it disappeared from view into the gloom of the night and the storm.
Andy had no thought of looking around to see upon what sort of place he had landed. His one thought was of his cousins and the old sailor. He still held the flashlight in his hand, and now as rapidly as he could do so, he hobbled along the sandy beach, throwing the rays of the flashlight before him and calling loudly.
The first persons he encountered were Jack and the sailor. The young major sat on the sands panting for breath while beside him in a semi-conscious condition lay Ira Small.
“Jack!” was the eager cry. “Are you all right?”
“Is that you, Andy?” panted the young major. “Yes, I’m all right. But Small is pretty close to being all in. When the rope parted I thought sure we’d be drowned.”
“Where are the others?”
“I don’t know.”
Leaving the old sailor resting where he was, Jack and Andy continued the search along the sands. They used the searchlight, and presentlyheard a cry from a distance, and Fred and Randy appeared.
“Safe! Safe!” cried Andy, joyously. “Oh, how glad I am! I thought I was going to be all alone!”
It was a happy reunion, and for the moment the Rover boys did nothing but hug each other in their delight at being together again. They cared not if the raft and the steam yacht were gone, so long as all of them were safe. They walked to the spot where Ira Small lay, and each sank down to rest.
“He’s certainly in bad shape,” said Jack, gazing at the old tar, who, with closed eyes, was breathing heavily. “He said he had a cramp, or something like that.”
“I wonder what place this is?” put in Randy. “Maybe there’s some sort of village or town not far away. If so, we might be able to get a doctor for him. Now that we have all been saved from the ocean, we certainly don’t want him to pass away like this.”
After having rested for some time, it was decided among the boys that the twins should remain with the old tar while Jack and Fred set out on a tour of exploration, taking the flashlight to guide their way.
The rain had stopped entirely, but the windblew as fiercely as ever, and the boys had no easy time of it to make their way along the sandy shore. Back of the sand they found a dense mass of bushes and trees, a veritable semi-tropical jungle.
“Gee! this doesn’t look as if there was any village or town very near,” observed Fred, after they had passed up and down the somewhat narrow beach for a goodly distance. “Do you suppose we’re on the mainland or on an island, Jack?”
“I’m of the opinion we’re on an island, Fred. It seems to me we were drifting southward most of the time.”
“Would we do that if the boat was in the Gulf Stream?”
“I think we were east of the Gulf Stream. Anyway, I’ve got a hunch that we’re somewhere in the West Indies, although, of course, I may be mistaken. I’m really and truly all at sea,” and Jack grinned grimly.
The two Rover boys walked along the beach until they came to a point where a huge wall of rock jutted out into the ocean, and here the flying spray stopped their further progress. Then they walked back along the beach to where they had left the twins and the sailor, and then continued their observations in the other direction. Herethey found that the beach made a turn, and the ocean came into what formed a small bay. But at the entrance to this the jungle was so dense that progress on foot was completely cut off.
“There isn’t any path around here, that’s certain,” remarked Jack, at last. “Do you know what I begin to believe?” he added.
“What?” questioned his cousin.
“I believe we are cast away on a small deserted island.”