Chapter IX: Adrift in the Storm

Dick and Carl were dumfounded at sight of the _Grampus_ appearing suddenly amid the waves and with Captain Nemo, Jr., in the conning tower heaving a rope at Matt. Their surprise wore away swiftly and delight took its place. Matt was saved, and they were soon to join him on the submarine.

"Hoop-a-la!" carolled the Dutch boy as the whaleboat put back to the steamer. "I peen gladder as I can dell dot ve're going to leaf dot _Sanda Maria_. I vould like to ged pedder acquaindet mit Miss Harris, I bed you, aber I dradder got mit der _Grambus_."

"That there's the craft we heerd about on the waterfront in New Orleans," said one of the sailors.

"Easy enough," said the other over his oar, "but how does she chance to be bobbin' in our wake? Looks like she was a-follerin' us."

There were many excited questions from the passengers as the boat was held alongside by one of the davit ropes and a sea ladder was dropped over. Sixty and his daughter, alone of all those aboard, showed little interest in the submarine.

The sailors in the boat called out to the officer on the deck that Dick and Carl were to be returned to the submarine, and the officer, with a look at the threatening sky, grumbled at the delay.

"One of the lads is enough to get their luggage," he called down. "You shell-backs come up here and tell me all about it."

The slap of the waves and the noise made by the rising wind rendered talking difficult. Carl went for the luggage, the sailors climbed to the deck, and Dick remained in the boat to keep her fended from the steamer's side with an oar.

While Carl was in the stateroom collecting the traps the officer hung over the rail with others of the crew and some of the passengers, studying the sky and apparently in doubt as to whether he should let the boat put back to the submarine.

Presently he went away, and before he got back Carl had appeared and begun tossing the luggage, piece by piece, into the bobbing whaleboat. Dick deftly caught and stowed the traps as they came down to him.

"Vy don'd you ged indo der poat?" asked Carl, of the two sailors, who were standing near.

"The fust orficer told us ter wait," replied one.

"Vy iss dot?"

"I don't think he reckons it's safe to go back ter the submarine."

"Ach, du lieber!" grunted Carl disgustedly. "Der itee oof sailormans being afraidt oof a leedle bit oof a vind! I peen a lubber meinseluf, aber I don'd vas afraidt!"

With that he lowered himself onto the shaking sea ladder and started downward. When Carl stepped off the ladder he came within one of stepping into the sea. Dick grabbed him, however, and heaved him over the gunwale and to a midship thwart by main force.

"Hi, there!" shouted the officer, coming back and leaning over the rail. "You can't go--it's not safe. We're going to catch it good and plenty in a minute."

"Bosh!" shouted Dick. "We can make it all right if you hurry."

Although Dick spoke confidently, for he was eager to join Matt on the _Grampus_ even if it was necessary to take a chance or two, yet his practiced eye told him that fierce weather was imminent.

"Hook on the falls!" roared the officer. "Quick on it, or----"

At that moment, with a terrific shriek and a wild splash and splatter, the squall broke. The whaleboat was under the lee of the steamer, but the larger vessel shifted her position so that the heavy wind caught the whaleboat and jerked her away. The fastenings parted, and in a twinkling the boat had shot off from the steamer on the crest of a huge wave. A mist of rain and spindrift closed in between and the _Santa Maria_ was shut out from the boys' view.

"The oars!" yelled Dick, floundering to a thwart and shipping the oar with which he had been keeping the boat from the steamer's side.

The boat was prancing like a festive broncho, now standing almost straight up in the air, and now dropping with dizzy abruptness, rolling at a hair-raising angle and shipping buckets of water. Carl had been having his hands full keeping himself from going overboard, but he managed to brace his feet and get busy with one of the oars.

Under Dick's direction the boat was brought with the wind and steadied.

"Led's ged on der supmarine!" yelled Carl.

"No use trying that," Dick shouted over his shoulder.

"Den, py shinks, led's ged pack on der shdeamer! I don'd like dis popping around ofer der ocean. I feel like I was in some shoot der chutes."

"Can't do that, either. We've got to do our best to keep afloat--and that's going to be hard enough. Strike me lucky, but fate has played it low down on us."

"Meppy der shdeamer vill come afder us."

"Don't you ever think it! They'd rather lose the whaleboat than hunt for us in this weather. Anyhow, they'd stand about as much chance of finding us as they would of locating a needle in a haystack. We're in for it, mate. Take a piece of that rope and lash yourself to the thwart."

Dick hauled in a trailing line and slashed off a section with his sheath knife. It was difficult hanging on to an oar with one hand while they used the other to tie themselves, but they managed to accomplish the feat.

"Subbose der poat sinks?" howled Carl. "Den ve vas tied und ve sink mit her."

"She can't sink! There's an air chamber in each end."

"Vat oof she shouldt durn over mit herseluf?"

"We've got to keep her from doing that."

"Ach, himmelblitzen! Dis iss der vorst fix vat I was afer in. Der landt iss goot enough for me. Der more vat I see of der ocean, der more vat I like der solid eart'. Now, oof ve----"

Carl, at that moment, was deluged by a wave. He strangled, coughed and spluttered, and if he had not been bound to the thwart would surely have gone by the board.

"Let me have your oar," roared Dick. "Take your cap, and bale!"

"How I vas going to dip all der gulf oudt oof dis poat mit my cap?" answered Carl. "I mighdt shust as vell drow der Mississippi Rifer ofer New Orleans mit a t'imble."

"Bale, I tell you!" whooped Dick, grabbing the oar away from Carl and shipping it opposite his own position.

Carl dipped frantically into the water, but his efforts were of little avail.

"I'll have to make a sea anchor," announced Dick.

"How you make dot? You vould haf to haf a placksmith shop, und----"

"Take the oars."

Dick swung the oars back and Carl laid hold of them. There was a mast and a furled sail in the bottom of the boat. With infinite difficulty, Dick got the mast over the side and made it fast to the stern by twenty feet of cable.

This weight, dragging behind, served to steady the lightly-weighted boat and rendered it easier for the boys to keep her clear of the swamping waves.

After that, Dick again took the oars and Carl continued his baling with more success.

"Id vas gedding vorse insteadt oof pedder," cried Carl, "der gale, I mean."

"That's a fact, matey," answered Dick, "but we're making better weather of it."

"Oof ve keep der poat on dop oof der vater ondil der shtorm iss ofer, ve vill be like some shipwrecked fellers und vill shdarve to deat'."

"We'll not starve to death. We can put up the sail and get to the nearest land. We're not such a long way from land, Carl, and this gale is blowing us toward the southern part of Florida."

"Oof ve hit Florida too kevick, den ve ged pusted oop."

"It will be a day or two before we get there."

"Vat ve eat in der meandime?"

"If you thought more of your life and less of your stomach, mate, you'd be better off."

"Vone means der odder. Und vat ve going to do for some vater to trink? Der ocean iss full mit salt."

"There's always a breaker of fresh water aboard these boats on the steamers."

"Den you t'ink, Tick, dere iss some shances for us?"

"Sure, I do! We're doing finely now!"

"Ach, finely! Mit der vater coming down from oferheadt, und oop from pelow, und der vind almost plowing us oudt oof der poat. Yah, ve vas in pooty fine shape, I bed you!"

Night fell, a hideous night, black as Erebus, with howling waves below and shrieking tempest overhead. The boys, nearly dropping from exhaustion, did their feeble best with the oars. They had no time for talk, and needed all their strength for their trying labor.

Minutes dragged like hours, and hours seemed like eternity.

How long a time passed, neither of the boys had any idea. All they could do was to work blindly and doggedly on and trust to luck.

"Py shinks," panted Carl, throwing down his oar, "I vas diret enough to tie und I can't do nodding more. Oof I'm to feed der fishes, pedder id vas now as some odder dime."

"You're not going to feed the fishes," answered Dick. "Buck up, matey. The gale is slowly blowing itself out. It was only a squall, anyhow."

"I don'd like skvalls! Dey're too sutten. Anyvay, I don'd vork no more. I can't. My pack iss proke und my hants iss plistered. I vould schust as soon tie as keep id oop. Vat a plackness eferyvere! Der sea shpooks iss oudt und yelling like anyt'ing. Oof I vas shdrong enough I vould ged shcared, aber I ain'd aple efen to do dot. I----"

Just at that moment Carl showed that he was strong enough, at all events, to give a startled yell. He was interrupted by a grinding crash, so terrific that it flung him from the thwart, tearing him loose from the lashings.

The boat had come to a halt, and was filling and turning over.

Carl had no idea what had happened and it was too dark for him to see anything. After his first frenzied cry, he gave himself up, being positive that he and Dick, in spite of their plucky fight, were bound for the bottom.