CHAPTER XV
THE STORM
Despite his lack of years, Captain Glenn was an able skipper; otherwise he would not have been in command of the Albatross. He acted promptly and with decision.
Men dashed forward and aft as Frank and Jack repeated the captain's commands. Everything was made secure before the storm broke and Captain Glenn ordered all men not needed on deck below. The helmsman had lashed himself to the wheel. Everything was as snug as it could be made aboard the Albatross.
Captain Glenn signaled the engine room for five knots.
"We'll have to slow down," he explained to Jack.
"No need of rushing blindly into the storm. It's coming from the northeast. We'll hold to our course as well as possible. The Albatross has weathered many a hard gale. Guess we will come through this all right."
The words had hardly left his mouth when the gale descended with the utmost fury. The Albatross keeled to port until her side almost touched the water. Jack, Frank and the captain saved themselves from being washed overboard by seizing the rail and clutching it with all their strength. As the ship righted itself, only to keel far to starboard the next minute, a deluge of water covered the deck.
Captain Glenn bellowed a hoarse command to Jack and Frank.
"Below and get into your oilskins!" he shouted.
The two lads struggled along the deck holding fast to whatever they could find. The ship rocked and dipped like a drunken man. Frank and Jack clambered into their oilskins with difficulty and then made their way back to the bridge, where Captain Glenn stood drenched to the skin.
The latter turned the bridge over to Jack while he went below for dry clothes and his own oilskins.
"Keep her on her course!" he shouted. "We're in no danger."
Jack obeyed. Captain Glenn returned a short time later and again assumed command.
All that day the gale raged and with the coming of night it showed no signs of abatement. So far the Albatross had plowed through the turbulent sea without injury, but it was plain to Jack and Frank that Captain Glenn was growing uneasy.
"This gale must stop soon or we'll have trouble," he shouted. "A ship can stand only so much pounding and you can hear the Albatross straining now."
It was true. Even above the roar of the gale the lads could hear the creaking of the timbers as the Albatross fought her way through the raging sea.
A man appeared from below.
"Sprung a leak forward, sir!" he shouted.
"Mr. Chadwick!" commanded Captain Glenn. "Get below and find out from the carpenter how bad the leak is."
Frank returned fifteen minutes later.
"Not bad, sir," he reported. "Carpenter says he can fix it in two hours. Could do it in half an hour if it weren't for the storm."
Captain Glenn nodded but made no audible reply.
At midnight the gale was still raging. Captain Glenn, tired out, announced that he was going below to get "forty winks." Jack took the bridge.
"Call me if anything happens," were the commander's last words as he went below.
Along toward four o'clock a man emerged from below and fought his way toward the bridge.
"Leak in the main compartment aft, sir," he reported to Jack.
Jack ordered Frank below to learn the extent of the damage.
"Pretty bad this time, Jack," said Frank, reporting a few minutes later. "We're shipping water by the gallon. Carpenter says he can't do a thing. However, one compartment more or less won't hurt. She'll still float."
"All right," Jack replied. "I won't awake Captain Glenn until I have to."
An hour later Captain Glenn, greatly refreshed, reappeared on deck. Jack reported the damage. Captain Glenn accepted the bad news with a nod, summoned Williams, the fourth officer, and ordered Jack and Frank below.
"Get some sleep," he shouted to make himself heard above the roaring of the wind. "I'll call you if you're needed."
The two lads descended to their quarters. It had been many hours since they had slept and in spite of the rolling and pitching of the ship they were asleep the moment they touched their bunks.
And as they slept the gale raged.
On the evening of the second night, with the gale still at its height,
Captain Glenn said, "Six more hours of this and we are done for."
At that time the Albatross was leaking badly in a dozen places. The engineer was having trouble with his engines. The rolling and pitching of the ship made it almost impossible to stand.
Suddenly the ship gave a great lurch, keeled over, righted, and then wallowed in the trough of the sea.
"Great Scott!" ejaculated Frank. "Now what?"
"Rudder broken, sir," said the helmsman quietly.
Frank threw up his hands in a gesture of dismay. "That settles it," he declared.
"Out with the life boats!" cried Captain Glenn.
"All hands on deck."
The men needed no urging. The life boats were made ready, the men the while clinging to whatever support offered itself. Suddenly there was a shrill scream aft, followed by a cry: "Man overboard!"
Captain Glenn shrugged his shoulders.
"Can't be helped," he said. "He's just beating us a little; that's all."
The commander of the Albatross hesitated to give the command to lower the boats. He knew that the odds were a hundred to one that the boats would not live in such a sea. While the Albatross held together they were safer aboard the vessel.
Came a wave sweeping over the ship mightier than the rest. The Albatross dipped clear to the sea. For a moment it seemed that she must go under; but she righted herself with an effort.
"Thought we were gone for that time!" shouted Captain Glenn. "She won't survive another. Lower away the boats, men."
Half a dozen men had been washed overboard by the last mighty deluge; the others now sprang to the boats and lowered them. Several were swamped as they hit the water, and there were not more than half a dozen that put off from the ship.
In the last boat were Frank, Jack and Captain Glenn and the fourth officer, Williams.
The little boat hit the water with a splash and all but turned over.
"Shove away from the ship!" cried Captain Glenn to the two sailors who manned the boat—the others had been lost. The sailors, Timothy and Allen by names, obeyed and then all took to their oars.
The little boat, one moment riding the crest of the waves, the next wallowing in the trough of the sea, moved away bravely though every moment it seemed in imminent danger of capsizing. It took skillful handling by Captain Glenn—the only man not at the oars—to keep the craft right side up.
It was so dark there on the sea that it was impossible for the occupants of the boat to tell whether or not others had escaped the ship safely.
"This storm can't last much longer, sir!" shouted Jack.
"If it does, we are wasting energy rowing," said Frank quietly.
"We'll row along as long as we can," said Captain Glenn. "We've been blown so far off our course that there is no telling where we are. It wouldn't surprise me if we had been blown off the coast of South America."
"Impossible, sir," ejaculated Jack.
"Maybe so," replied Captain Glenn. "I'm just guessing. Still, it wouldn't surprise me a bit."
Suddenly the raging wind ceased. The waves still rose to mighty heights, but the wind was stilled almost to a zephyr and the little boat rode the swells gently.
"It's over, sir!" shouted Frank.
"So it is," said Captain Glenn, "but it is still dark. Strike a match someone and learn the hour."
Jack did so.
"Three thirty, sir," he said.
"Morning or afternoon?" demanded Frank, who seemed to have lost track of the time entirely.
"Morning, of course," said Jack.
"Can't see the reason for that 'of course,'" mumbled Frank.
"It should be light in half an hour," said Captain Glenn. "Then we may see whether any of the others are near."
They waited silently. The sea grew calmer and calmer; and at last the light came.
The occupants of the boat stood up and scanned the ocean. There was nothing that the eye could see save water. There was no sign of the Albatross nor other of the small boats.
"Poor fellows!" said Jack.
At that moment Frank, his eyes sharper than those of the others, gave an exclamation. "Land ahead!" he shouted.