When the boys got on deck they found it almost impossible to keep their feet. The wind was blowing wildly first in one direction and then in another. The waves seemed mountainous and occasionally one would break over the bow of the steam yacht, sending the spray flying in all directions.
“Free shower bath, and then some!” was the way Andy expressed himself. “We’ll either have to go below again or put on oilskins.”
The storm lasted until an hour after the time when the sun should have come up, and during that time sleep was out of the question. But around nine o’clock the clouds began to break and two hours later the wind died down and by noon the sun was shining as fiercely as ever on a sea that still showed many whitecaps.
“Well, we’re out of that, and I’m glad of it,” said Fred, as the lads went down to dinner. “Now we can eat in comfort and after that I’m going to have a good snooze.”
The remainder of that day and also the next passed without special incident. The steam yacht was now getting well down the coast and it would not be long before they would be in the vicinity of the West Indies.
Among the sailors Jack had noticed a tall, lean individual, named Patnak. This fellow was of Norwegian birth, but told the oldest Rover boy that he had been in and around the United States since he was twelve years old. He was thoroughly Americanized, and although he could speak Norwegian he had little or nothing to do with the two sailors who had become friendly with Olesen and Amend.
Jack rather liked Jake Patnak and felt he could trust this Norwegian who, although he was all of thirty years old, acted very much like an overgrown boy. He told Patnak of some of the adventures he and his cousins had had, not only in the West Indies but also in the oil fields and on Sunset Trail, and thereupon Patnak became quite confidential.
“Every year I tell myself that I’m going to leave the sea and try to make my fortune on land,” said the sailor, his blue eyes full of earnestness. “Once I started for those oil fields that you just mentioned, but after I was ashore for three months the itch for the ocean again got me, and inside of three days I had gone back to Baltimore and signed up for a cruise to Cape Town, Africa.”
“Well, every one to his taste,” answered Jack. “You can’t hire some men to go on the water.”
“I know that. When I was on land I met two Norwegians who had come over to this country when I did. They were experts at laying parquet floors. Why, those fellows wouldn’t even go down to Coney Island for a swim, they hated the water so,” and Jake Patnak laughed.