CHAPTER IIIBACK TO THE WATER
Stuffing the letter into a pocket, Jack reached for his cap, and hurried out to summon his crew, consisting of George Santo.
“All hands on deck!” he said. “Mr. Mate, we’re going to start work right away. There are only three weeks of May left, and before long we’ll have Holden’s Ferry going.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” replied the mate, “if ever wedoget her floated.”
“If!” cried Jack. “You talk like a codfish. Ofcoursewe’re going to get her floated! Before we do another thing, though, I’m going to hold a war council with your dad. He knows best how we can tackle the job.”
They hurried to the boat-builder’s yard, where Tony was found at work.
“Mr. Farnham has given me that sloop,”Jack cried as he approached. “See, here’s his letter.”
Tony’s features developed a broad smile, and he glanced through the note.
“So you’ll soon be setting off on a journey around the world, or thereabouts, eh?” he remarked at last, banteringly.
“Well, maybe about half-way, or perhaps as far as Greenport breakwater,” Jack returned; “but you know, Mr. Santo, we can’t do much till we get your help.”
“Well, what do you want me to do?” asked Tony good-humoredly, putting down his hammer.
“I don’t want to bother you too much,” said Jack, “but you said that if we got stuck you would give us a bit of help.”
“Why, yes, I’ll run over there in the dory some Saturday and help you to launch her, when you’re ready.”
“Thank you. That will be a tremendous help. Shall we dig a channel down to the water and float her out that way, or dig the sand away from her bow—she is lying bow-on toward theriver, you know—and get her out with a winch?”
“I’ll take a winch. That will be easier. I’ll find a place on the opposite bank of the river where I can moor the winch, and then run a cable across the water to the sloop. We’ll drag her out when you’ve done enough spade-work. But mind, you want to get all that sand clear away from her sides, and make a nice slope up from her bow so that she won’t stick when the winch begins to haul on her. How long will that take you? Till next fall?”
“I hope not. We couldn’t very well manage it by next Saturday. That would only give us two days. But we’ll be ready for the winch the Saturday after.”
“All right,” replied Tony. “We’ll make that a date.”
To any one less enthusiastic than her proud new owner, the sloop would not, perhaps, have looked such a priceless possession. There is something peculiarly desolate about the appearance of a wreck at any time, and, at least up to the time when the Sangus had again changedits course, theSea-Larkhad looked even more desolate than she would otherwise have done, because she was so far from the river. The water had left her canting over heavily to port, her stump of mast, a yard long, sticking up. On the port side her deck was now about level with the sand; her starboard side, raised four or five feet higher, had formed a barrier against which a solid bank of the restless sand had settled. Had she been an old boat and needing paint at the time she came to grief, decay might have left its stamp upon her in the three years she had lain there; but it so happened that her oaken beams and hard-pine planking were as sound at the time of the accident as on the day when they were first put into her, while the fact that she had received a double coat of paint only two months before, helped her further to resist the weather. She was not, therefore, really a wreck, as nothing of any consequence, except the mast, was broken.
Taking turn and turn about, the two boys worked strenuously, first removing the sand that had silted up against her starboard side.It was no light task, for the drift ran the whole length of the sloop, and the lads’ backs were aching and their limbs weary before they seemed to have made any impression on it. When the skipper called a final halt, however, they were well pleased with the result of their arduous labors. Nevertheless, Jack realized now for the first time how great was the task he had set himself, and how hopeless would be his efforts without the kindly assistance of Tony with the winch.
In three days the boys had entirely removed the drift, and then began to dig down around the sides of the vessel, to release her from the grip of the sand there. George proved not only a willing but an extremely useful helper. Though not so tall as his chum, he was strong, and gave promise of developing into an unusually powerful man. But it was the spirit with which he threw himself into the task that Jack appreciated as much as anything. Just before the date of the appointment with Tony, once when they were resting, perched on the side of theSea-Lark, George surveyed the pilesof sand which they had removed in the past week.
“We only want one thing now,” he said thoughtfully, “to make us both thoroughly happy.”
“What’s that?”
“A peach of a wind-storm, to fill up all the holes we’ve been digging! If that happened, I don’t believe we’d have the pluck to start all over again.”
“Don’t suggest such an awful thing,” cried Jack, “or I’ll smite you with a belaying-pin! By the way, George, I can’t do that.”
“Oh, Iamso sorry!” said the other. “Why not?”
“Because there doesn’t seem to be a belaying-pin on board. We’ll need one or two, won’t we? The skipper always thumps people on the head with a belaying-pin, particularly the mate. There’s something about a marlinespike, too, isn’t there? I’m not quite sure what a marlinespike is, but I think I club you with it when there isn’t a belaying-pin handy.”
With a deft movement of his body, the mategot behind the skipper and neatly tipped him overboard into the hole they had so painstakingly dug; nor was the captain allowed to climb on board again until the mate had extracted a promise that he would at all times be treated in a humane manner when they were far out on the bounding ocean.
During the last of the preparations for Tony’s operations their spirits rose greatly, for it began to look as though the sloop merely needed a gentle tug to slide her away from the bed in which she had so long lain. At school on Friday Jack struggled hard to keep his attention riveted on his lessons, but it was an effort in which he failed utterly; for the launching on the morrow of the good shipSea-Larkseemed a matter of infinitely greater importance than the problems that were put before him.
It was late that afternoon when the boy finally declared that all was ready for the great ceremony. He and his chum had carried out Tony’s instructions to the letter, even searching about on the bank of the river for driftwood,which they dragged to the sloop and placed in position just under her nose. That night Tony was informed of their readiness for his part in the program, and the boat-builder bade them be prepared for an early start next day, as it might take until late in the afternoon to get through.
Not very long after sunrise next day Jack leaped from bed and looked anxiously out at the window. It seemed as though the Fates were going to be kind to him, because the weather was perfect for the day’s operations. The boy was too impatient to eat much breakfast, and after a hurried meal went round to the Santo boat-yard, where he found Tony and George already moving the necessary gear into the sailing-dory—much strong manila rope with blocks and tackle, a powerful hand-winch, several heavy planks, a number of rollers, and a bucket of grease. When these were aboard, the sail was hoisted, and the dory dropped down the creek to the river. There, as the stream was not over wide, the oars had to be used, and the dory was rowed some four miles,Tony pulling steadily all the time, and the boys taking turn and turn about at the other oar.
“It’s hard work against the wind,” said Tony, “but we shall feel the benefit of it coming back.”
It was only a little after nine o’clock when they reached the spot where theSea-Larklay, and some hours were left before high water was due. First Tony went ashore and inspected the work the boys had already done.
“That’s good,” he declared unhesitatingly. “She ought to come off like a wet fish slides off a plate. Lend a hand with those rollers and boards in the dory, and we’ll fix her.”
Already Tony seemed to take as keen an interest in the salvage operations as the boys had done. He soon had everything ready on that bank of the Sangus, and then crossed the river to moor the winch in the sand there, so that it would haul without moving. This was not easily accomplished, for the loose sand gave poor anchorage. When, however, it was done to his satisfaction, the cable was run across the waterand made fast to the sloop. Tony sent the boys back to start hauling, while he stood by theSea-Larkto “navigate” her. Jack and his chum each seized a crank and began to tighten the cable. It came easily enough until the drag of the sloop began. Then they managed a bare-half-turn only. Putting forth every ounce of their strength, they struggled to start the sloop on her journey toward the water, but it was beyond them. TheSea-Larkrefused to glide with fairy footsteps down to the river after her long rest ashore. Tony meanwhile was heaving at the side of the boat to loosen her keel in the sand, but when he saw the joint efforts of the boys were unequal to the task, he beckoned them to fetch the dory across.
“She seems to be glued there,” he declared, “but that glue will have to come unstuck, if it takes us the whole day to do the trick. Let’s see if all three of us working at the winch can get her to start.”
Tony rolled up his sleeves, put the boys together at one crank, and applied his own strength to the other.
“Now, lads,” he said, “give her all you’ve got. Heave!”
There was a back-breaking moment of straining, cracking muscles.
And then something happened. TheSea-Larkreluctantly began to move.
Click-click-clickety-click, went the winch.
“Easy, now,” ordered Tony. “Rest a few minutes. She’ll come all right, and we have plenty of time.”
From that moment the launching of the sloop, though slow, was a certainty. A dozen times Tony had to make the trip across the river to adjust the planks and rollers beneath the boat’s keel, but she came up the slope without mishap.
“My word, she looks big!” Jack exclaimed when he had climbed to the top and was lumbering along on her side, down to the water’s edge.
“What did you take her for?—a canoe?” Tony laughed. “She won’t look as big, though, when she gets into the water. Still, a thirty-foot sloop is all you two will want to handle in a breeze.”
When their prize was within a foot of the water, Tony went over her with a calking-iron and mallet, plugging up the worst of the leaky places with oakum so that she could safely be taken up the river as far as the boat-yard without danger of sinking on the way. Jack watched this performance with a critical eye.
“Is she very bad?” he asked with some anxiety.
“Why, no,” replied Tony. “She’s not what you might call seaworthy, with these seams wide open, but you’re bound to get that. I didn’t expect to have much trouble with her hull, and I must say that, considering all things, she’s in pretty fair condition. Just the same, I guess there’s enough work on her to keep you busy for a week or so.”
“I don’t care if it takes us all summer! Yes, I do, too,” said Jack. “I want to get her shipshape in a month or so if possible.”
“Well, I’m not saying you can’t do that,” replied Tony, surveying the hull with a professional gaze. “But let me tell you this: you’ve got your work cut out; that is, if you mean toput her into first-class shape. Still, even as she is she’d fetch a nice little sum, once we get her down to the yard where people come looking for boats.”
“It’s very nice to hear you say that, Mr. Santo,” replied Jack, “but I feel as proud of her already as though she were a steam-yacht, and it would have to be a very tempting offer to make me part with her.”
“There!” said Tony at last. “I think she’ll do now. Some water is bound to slop into her on the way home, but she won’t go back on us and sink, anyway. Let’s get her launched.”
A few more turns on the winch fetched theSea-Larkdown into the river, and Jack could not suppress a shout when he saw her actually afloat. She did not look quite so large as when lying high and dry on the top of the bank, but she was a fair-sized craft.
A tow-rope was fastened from her to the dory, and then the smaller boat’s sail was hoisted, Tony going alone in his dory, the boys traveling on the sloop to steer. This was a somewhat delicate operation, for the channelwas narrow in places, and there were several bends. During this part of the run the mate stood in the bow, armed with a long pole, to ease her prow away from the occasional shallows into which they ran, and Jack remained at the wheel, glowing with pride in his new possession. For, helpless though she was without spars, rigging, or gear, she was his, and it was not difficult for him to adorn her with imaginary sails bellying to the wind as she careened over, leaving a foamy trail astern. It seemed almost unbelievable to him that such a thing as this could have happened. Never, during the time when he and his friend had played at being pirates on the sloping deck of the stranded derelict, had he dreamed that the day would come when the water would be flowing beneath her keel once more and that the hand which steadied her wheel would be his.
“Ahoy, there!” he called gaily to the mate.
“Aye, aye, sir!” responded George, glancing astern, over his shoulder.
“Shin up aloft and put a two-reef in the maintops’l,”the skipper barked, endeavoring to imitate the deep tones of Cap’n Crumbie.
Deserting his post for a moment, George ran to the mast stump, and clung to it like a bear hugging a pole.
“Belay, there!” shouted Jack, laughingly. “Get back on to your job, or—”
The skipper never completed his sentence. Slipping quickly back to the nose of the boat, George arrived there at the precise moment when theSea-Larkran upon one of the numerous shallows which threatened to impede her progress all along the route. The sloop came to a standstill with a jerk, and George, his hands outstretched to grasp his pole once more, took a graceful dive straight over the side. He could swim like a young otter, but there was no need for that, as the water came up only to his chest, and he soon climbed back on board, there to withstand the playful taunts of his father and of the captain, who condemned him to twenty years’ imprisonment in the chain-locker and ordered him to be deprived of hiswages for life, for absenting himself from the ship without leave.
Together the lads managed to push the sloop off again, and the journey was resumed, but soon they reached the bend bringing them into Cow Creek, and there the dory’s sail again became useless, so it was lowered and Tony and George rowed the rest of the distance, the exercise preventing the boy from suffering any ill effects from his ducking. George was nevertheless thankful by the time they approached his father’s boat-yard, for the sloop hung behind like a load of lead, the wind, which was now against her, adding to the work. She was gently eased up on to the bank of the stream, there to lie until her various minor ailments had been attended to and until she was declared fit for a new career of adventure.