“That’s just what I did this afternoon, Martin,” he shouted, dancing joyfully about the room to relieve his pent-up feelings.
“And so you sat here all the evening calling yourself a coward,” said Martin, when Larry had subsided, “just because you couldn’t bear to kill a fox in a trap. How about killing wolves, Larry, and moose that are trying to kill you? Cowards don’t act that way, boy. And the bravest men usually have the softest spots in their hearts.”
CHAPTER XII
THE EARLY MORNING VISITOR
Martin and Larry were roused the next morning at daylight by the dogs who were barking excitedly in their shed outside. Evidently some animal was approaching the hut too close for their approval. So Larry, hoping for a pot shot from the window, slipped out of bed, took down his rifle stealthily, and cautiously opened the port on the landward side. Just then he heard voices outside, and the next moment some one pounded sharply against the door and turned the latch. In the doorway stood Mr. Ware, with half a dozen sailors crowding behind him.
With a shout Martin was out of his bunk, while Larry, dropping his gun, collided with the old hunter as they rushed together into Mr. Ware’s outstretched arms, and for five minutes the three were locked together in a tangled embrace dancing about like happy children, each asking questions which no one answered. Then Larry discovered that one of the sailors was an old acquaintance from the crew of the yacht, and the sailor came in for a similar wild demonstration, while Mr. Ware stood laughing and gasping for breath. And all this time the dogs, recognizing that something quite out of the ordinary was taking place inside, were adding their voices to the din, and struggling madly to get out of their shed.
Finally Martin disengaged himself and sank into a chair overcome with exhaustion and emotion. For the coming of Mr. Ware was like one risen from the dead. And then followed a flood of questions and explanations.
Mr. Ware and his companions in the boat had escaped quite as miraculously as had Martin and Larry, although they had suffered far greater hardships in the storm. They had left the shore in their boat and were making an exploratory trip along the mouth of the inlets of the bay just before the storm broke that destroyed the yacht. The fury of the gale drove them helplessly along the coast, and pitched them about, breaking their oars and tearing loose their rudder, so that they were completely disabled. Fortunately they had rounded the point of land that marked the entrance to the bay, so that instead of being blown against the rocks they were driven along parallel to the coast-line for a time, and thus saved from the breakers.
But they were hurried from this peril into another quite as great, as the boat was in danger of swamping at any moment in the waves. For now the wind shifted and blew them steadily out to sea, as they were without means of controlling or steadying the boat, which filled with water continually, and was only kept afloat by ceaseless bailing with the pots and pans of their cooking outfit.
All that night they worked, buffeted by the gale, with no idea where they might be drifting. But when morning came and the gale subsided there was no land in sight. That made little difference to them, as without oars or sails they could not have reached it in any event. Fortunately the boat was supplied with a box of sea biscuit and a keg of water—a precaution against emergencies always taken by Mr. Ware in manning his boats. So that while they were almost frozen, they were not hungry or thirsty during the six days and nights of their aimless drifting. But their days seemed numbered, as they had little hope of being picked up so late in the season.
Imagine their delight, therefore, when on the seventh morning they discovered a three master heading almost directly for them. The captain of the vessel had seen them, and changed his course to pick them up.