“Well, if that’s a touch, I sincerely hope that we shall not get a blow,” said Archie, crawling back to his seat and rubbing his elbow with one hand and his head with the other.
“She will soon come right side up,” said Frank.
But to Dick and Bob, and even to some of the other occupants of the cabin, it seemed for a few minutes as though the Stranger was destined to come wrong side up. She heeled over until the floor stood at such an angle that it was useless for one to attempt to retain an upright position, and the boys were knocked and bumped about in a way that was quite bewildering. But she came up to a nearly even keel at last, as Frank had said she would, and then the boys could tell, confined as they were, that she was travelling through the water at a tremendous rate of speed. They looked out at the bull’s-eyes, but could gain no idea of the state of affairs outside, for the glasses were obscured by the rain and by the spray which was driven from the tops of the waves. The waves must have rolled mountains high, judging by the way their little vessel was tossed about by them, and the wind roared and screeched so loudly that the boys could not hear a single order, or even the tramping of the sailors’ feet as they passed over their heads. So completely were all sounds of life above decks shut out from them, that the Club might have thought that the captain and all his crew had been swept overboard, had it not been for the steady course the vessel pursued. That told them that there was somebody watching over them, and that there was a skilful and trusty hand at the helm.
The storm continued with unabated fury all the night long, but with the rising of the sun the wind died away almost as suddenly as it had arisen, the tarpaulin was thrown off, and the captain came into the cabin looking like anything in the world except a man who had spent the last twelve hours in fighting a gale. He looked as jolly and good-natured as though he had just arisen from a refreshing sleep.
“Well, Uncle Dick, this is rather more than a sailing wind, isn’t it?” asked Eugene.
“Rather,” was the laughing reply. “But the worst of it is over now. We shall have a heavy sea for a few hours, but that will not prevent us from fixing up a little. It was one of the hardest gales I ever experienced; and if the Mangrove Islands had been under our lee when it struck us—”
The old sailor shrugged his shoulders, and the boys knew what he meant by it.
“You said something about fixing up a little,” said Frank. “Was anything carried away?”
Uncle Dick nodded his head, and the Club went on deck in a body to take a survey of the schooner. She did not look much like the Stranger of the day before, and the boys wondered how she could have received so much damage without their knowing anything about it. The flying jibboom was gone, and so were both the topmasts. Some of the ratlines had parted and were streaming out straight in the wind like signals of distress, the port bulwarks were smashed in, the deck was littered with various odds and ends, life-lines were stretched along the sides, and altogether the handsome little craft looked very unlike herself. What must have been the power of the elements to work all this ruin to a stanch craft which had been built solely for strength and safety? It must have been tremendous, and the boys were reminded that all danger from it had not yet passed when they looked at the man who was lashed to the helm. Presently they received another convincing proof of the fact. The officer of the deck suddenly called out, “Hold fast, everybody!” and the boys looked up just in time to see the schooner plunge her nose into a huge billow which curled up over her bow, and breaking into a small Niagara Falls, washed across the deck, sweeping it clean of everything movable, and carrying with it one of the sailors, who missed the life-line at which he grasped. Ready hands were stretched out to his assistance, but the man saved himself by clutching at the life-rail and holding fast to it.
The Club knew now how the bulwarks had been smashed in. The wave filled the deck almost waist deep, and they were astounded at the force with which it swept along. That portion of it which did not flow down into the cabin passed out through the scuppers, leaving behind it a party of youngsters with very wet skins and pale faces, who clung desperately to the life-lines, and looked hastily about to see if any of their number were missing. Their fears on this score being set at rest, they glanced down into the cabin to see how Uncle Dick was getting on. The old sailor was holding fast to the table and standing up to his knees in water, but he had nothing to say. He was used to such things.