“I am afraid to do it,” said Enoch, as soon as he could make himself heard. “Just turn your eyes in that direction for a moment.”
The boys looked, and saw a milk-white cloud, followed by one as black as midnight, rapidly rising into view above the horizon. Underneath, the sea was dark and threatening.
“There’s wind in those clouds, and plenty of it, too,” continued the captain. “If we are caught in it we are gone deserters. Our only chance for safety is to make the lee of that island you see ahead of us.”
The runaways watched the clouds with a good deal of anxiety. Up to this time the wind had been fair and the weather all they could have desired; but now it looked as though the Storm King were about to show them what he could do when he got into a rage. The clouds came up with startling rapidity; the lightning began playing around their ragged edges, the mutterings of distant thunder came to their ears, and their haven of refuge seemed far away; but fortunately the breeze held out, and just a few minutes before the wind changed with a roar and a rush, and the storm burst forth in all its fury, the Sylph dropped her spare anchor in a sheltered nook under the lee of the island, and with everything made snug, was prepared to ride it out. The rain fell in torrents, driving the boys below and keeping them there until long after midnight. The wind blew as they had never heard it blow before, but the anchor held, and shortly before daylight the thunder died away in the distance, and finally the sun arose in unclouded splendor. The runaways were all hungry, for they had had no supper, and as their provisions were all exhausted, some of them began to talk of laying violent hands upon those in the lockers.
“There’s no need of doing that,” said Enoch, after he had taken a look around. “All hands stand by to get ship under way. It doesn’t blow to hurt anything, and we’ll take the back track without any delay. After a glorious spin over these waves, we’ll stop for breakfast at the island where we robbed our last corn-field. It’s only a few miles away, and it will make the Sylph laugh to run down there with such a breeze as this.”
The deserters had become accustomed to yield prompt and unquestioning obedience to Enoch’s orders, but there were some among them who did not at all like the idea of going out of the cove to face the white caps that were running in the bay. If there had been any one to propose it and to direct their movements afterward, a few of them would have refused duty; but the majority, having confidence in Enoch’s skill and caution, went to work to get the chain around the little windlass which served the Sylph in lieu of a capstan, and when they shipped the handspikes, the timid ones took hold and helped run the vessel up to her anchor. She was got under way without difficulty, and as long as she remained behind the island where the wind was light and the sea comparatively smooth, she made such good weather of it that Lester Brigham and those like him, began to take courage; and they even struck up: “Here let my home be, in the waters wide,” to show how happy they were, and how much they enjoyed the rapid motion. But their song ceased very suddenly when they rounded the promontory at the foot of the island, and saw what there was before them. In front, behind and on both sides of them were tumbling, white-capped billows, whose tops were much higher than the schooner’s rail, and which came rolling slowly and majestically toward them, but with dreadful force and power. It seemed as if every one of them were higher than its predecessor, and that nothing could save the Sylph, which bounded onward with increased speed.
“This is something like a sail!” shouted Enoch, who was all excitement now. “This is what puts life into a fellow. I wish some other schooner would show up, so that we could have a race with her. How she flies!”
“Look out or you’ll tip us over,” whined Lester, who was holding on for life.
“No fear of that,” replied Enoch. “The Sylph is no ‘skimming-dish.’ She’s deep as well as wide, and being built for safety instead of speed, I couldn’t capsize her if I should try.”