Chapter XVIII: A Night of Anxiety

"Hey! here's Nick getting into his cork jacket already!" called Herb.

"All right," said the one in question, firmly. "Think I want to get washed out on that pond without something to hold me up? Remember, I'm a new beginner when it comes to swimming. And then I've got more to hold up than the rest of you."

"Well, help me get this tent down first," remonstrated Herb. "We don't want to be caught by a storm with these things up, you know."

"But it might rain?" Nick protested.

"Let it. We've got oilskins; and perhaps there'll be plenty of time left to get into the same. Take hold there."

Herb was right; and the crews of all the little motor boats had already started to stow away the big covers. Jack kept things as snug as possible aboard the _Tramp_, in case of a downpour; and that was not at all the thing he feared most.

They were within fifty feet of cruel looking rocks. If the wind broke out from any quarter that would send the big billows churning against that barrier, the fate of the motor boat fleet could be easily guessed.

In a little while everything had been done that seemed possible; after which they could only sit there, and await whatever was to be handed out to them.

Nick and Josh were plainly nervous; and even Jimmie showed some signs of apprehension, nor could they be blamed for this timidity.

"What if one of the boats is swept away?" suggested Josh; who, being in the narrow-beam _Wireless_ understood that he had much less chance for safety than those who manned the other craft.

"No danger of that happening," Jack replied, quickly. "The only thing we have to fear is being smashed up against these rocks. Our boats would cave in like puff balls."

"That's what," Josh went on. "Perhaps fellows, we ought to go ashore in the dinkies while we have the chance. Even if we lost the boats we'd save our lives. And I promised my folk at home I wouldn't take any unnecessary risks, you know."

But George only sniffed at the idea.

"Rats!" he exclaimed. "There you go just as usual, magnifying the danger, Josh. As for me, I'm going to stick like glue to this old _Wireless_. Just see me deserting her because a little squall chances to blow up. Get ashore if you feel like it. And you too, Buster; only remember, if we should be blown miles away, you two fellows would be apt to starve to death in this lonely region."

"That settles it," said Nick, immediately.

If there was any chance of his starving, he stood ready to accept all sorts of perils rather than face that possibility. And doubtless George knew all this when he put the case so strenuously.

Josh too decided that he did not want to go ashore. If the others could stand the danger, he would too.

"It may not be so bad for us, fellows," observed Jack. "Because, if you look up, you'll see that the clouds are coming from the land side. And every bang of thunder up to now has been from that direction too. The storm this time doesn't mean to cross the lake, and hit this shore. And unless it changes around, we'll be protected from it by these very rocks we feared so much!"

"Bully! bully! Good for you, Jack!" cried Nick, as if greatly relieved. "I'm feeling so much better I almost believe my lost appetite is returning."

"Well, it's so, ain't it?" demanded the other.

"Sure it is," echoed Jimmie, with delight in his voice.

"That's the best news I've heard this long while," remarked George, who despite his seeming valor, was secretly much distressed over the outlook.

The thunder increased in violence. Then they heard the sweep of the wind through the pines and hemlocks on the shore. And in less than ten minutes the rain was pouring down like a deluge.

They had secured things so that little harm would be done. Still, the outlook was far from attractive, with several hours of darkness ahead; during which they must keep on constant guard, not knowing at what minute the wind might take a notion to veer around to some quarter, that would send the waves dashing against the rockbound shore so near by.

It seemed as severe a gale as the one they had experienced only a short time before. Indeed, Jack was of the opinion that the wind was even greater, though they did not feel it the same way, because of the shelter obtained from the land.

They would never be apt to forget that night, no matter how time passed. Watching was serious business for Nick; and three times he was known to creep over to where Herb kept his cracker bag, doubtless to interest himself in a little "snack," so as to briefly forget his other troubles.

Nor did Herb have the heart to take him to task about it. Their situation was so very distressing that he could think of nothing else. Every time the lightning flamed athwart the black sky the boys would look out at the troubled waters stretching as far as the eye could see; or else send an anxious glance toward the grim rocks that loomed up so very close over their bows.

Hours seemed like days. Nick groaned, and declared he ached in every bone.

"What d'ye think of me, then?" demanded Josh. "You're well padded; while I reckon my poor old bones are going to stick through, pretty soon. I dassent stand up, because George won't let me; and you can. I wish you had my berth, Buster."

But at last Herb declared that there were certainly signs of dawn coming in the east. Every eye was turned that way; and upon learning that the news was true the boys began to take on fresh hope.

"Well," George said for the tenth time, "I'm glad of one thing, and that is we managed to get my engine in working order last night before supper. Goodness knows what a fix I'd have been in otherwise, if we had to put out to sea when the wind changed."

"Oh! murdher! I hope it won't do the same!" exclaimed Jimmie, who overheard the remark, and was filled with dismay as he surveyed the wild scene that stretched away off toward the southern horizon.

"Can't we manage somehow to cook something warm?" asked George.

"Yes, that's it," immediately echoed Nick, beginning to bustle around in the steady old _Comfort_. "We'll all feel so much better if we have breakfast. Nothing like a full stomach to put bravery in a fellow, I tell you."

"Oh! how brave you must feel all the time, then!" observed Josh, sarcastically.

But Jack knew that this time the fat boy spoke the truth. When people are wet and shivering things are apt to look gloomy enough; but once warm them up, and let them eat a hot meal, and somehow a rosy tinge begins to paint the picture.

They knew just how to go about the matter; and those wonderful German Juwel kerosene gas stoves filled the bill to a dot; as Nick declared, after the delightful aroma of boiling coffee had begun to reach his eager nostrils.

And while the wind still howled through the pines up on the high rocks, and the billows rolled away toward the south, growing in size as they drew farther off shore, the motor boat boys sat down to a tasty breakfast.

"Now, this isn't so bad," observed Nick, as he started in on what had been dished out to him by Herb, who this time had done the cooking.

"It will be for the boss if he don't get to work in a hurry," Josh flung across the watery space that separated the boats.

"Don't worry on my account," laughed Herb. "I've got a mortgage on the balance in the fryingpan, and he'd better not touch it on his life."

"Think the bally old storm is over, Jack?" asked Nick, presently.

"The worst of it is, and I believe the wind seems to be dying down a little," came the ready reply, as Jack swept the heavens with anxious eyes.

"I thought that last gust came out a little more toward the west," remarked one of the others.

"I'd hate to know that," Jack said. "For old sailors say that when the wind backs up into the west, after being in the north, without going all the way around, it means a return of the storm, from another quarter."

"Time enough to get ashore yet!" muttered Josh.

"Go ahead, if you want to," George said grimly. "Take some grub along, if you make up your mind that way. But I don't stir out of this boat unless I'm thrown out. Understand that?"

An hour later, and Jack saw that his worst fears were realized.

"Wind's getting around fast now, fellows," he announced.

"It sure is," Herb admitted; for he had been noticing the increased roughness of the water for a little while back.

"What must we do, Jack?" asked George, with set teeth, and that look of determination in his eyes that stood for so much.

"Hold out as long as we can," came the reply in a steady voice. "Then, when the danger of our being dashed against the rocks grows too great, we'll just have to up-anchor, and start our engines to moving. It will be safer for us out yonder than so near the shore."

Another half hour went by. Then the little boats were pitching and tossing violently, as the full force of the onrushing waves caught them.

"Can't stand it much longer, Jack!" called out George, who was having the most serious time of all.

"Then we might as well make the move now as later!" called Jack. "So get going, both of you. And remember to stand by as close as you can, so that we may help in case an upset happens to any boat."

Of course George knew his chum had the cranky _Wireless_ in mind when he said this; but the peril was not alone confined to the one boat.

Accordingly the engines were started, the anchors gotten aboard after a tremendous amount of hard work; and the little motor boat fleet put to sea, with the intention of trying to ride the storm out as best they might.

If the engines only continued faithful all might yet be well.