Only eleven o’clock, and he had thought it was time for the sun to rise!
Tom tried to lie down first in one place and then in another, but the sharp-pointed rocks prevented him from assuming anything like a reclining position. Then he thought of his own nice bed; but he knew he could not enjoy it, at least not without too great a sacrifice of manly dignity.
He thought of Captain Harrison’s schooner, which was to sail on the following morning. He might go on board of her; but if he should do so, how could he revenge himself on his mother?
“I can’t stay here all night if it’s going to last as long as this hour has. I don’t want to walk up the road, because I can’t see where I’m going. Mother won’t know for certain that I’ve gone on the Swiftsure, and she’ll feel bad enough to-morrow morning when I don’t come home to breakfast, so I’ll go on board where I can get some sleep.”
Tom knew exactly where the clumsy old schooner was moored, for many a time had he and his friends been up to look at her when she was in port and laughed at the name of Swiftsure, which it seemed must have been painted on her stern in mockery.
With his bundles in his hands he stumbled down through the pasture, following the course of the brook, until he arrived at a little stone pier, at the head of which could be seen the old schooner which had been made ready for a fishing cruise down the coast.
Tom scrambled on board as softly as was possible in the darkness; but he might have saved himself the trouble of taking precautions to prevent any one from hearing him, for the old schooner was deserted and looked quite as lonesome as he felt. The cabin-doors were locked, the hatches were fastened down too securely for him to raise them unaided, and it seemed very much as if even the Swiftsure denied him the shelter he so sadly needed.
On the deck lay an upturned dory. He might crawl under that, and although it would be but poor shelter it was surely better than trying to lie on the sharp rocks under the bridge. Tom was not nearly as particular where he slept as he would have been at home, and he counted himself very fortunate in finding under the boat a quantity of old nets that made him quite a soft bed, so soft, in fact, that he was asleep in less than five minutes after he had found shelter.
Everything had contributed to make Tom very tired on the day when he ran away, and he slept on the fishing-nets quite as soundly as if he had been at home. He did not even hear Captain Harrison and his crew when they came on board at a very early hour in the morning. The bustle and confusion attendant upon getting the Swiftsure under way failed to awaken him. When, however, the Swiftsure was on the open sea, tumbling about on the waves in her own clumsy fashion, he came to understand where he was, and he gained this information in quite a sensational manner.
Shortly after the old schooner had left the dock the wind freshened until it was blowing quite half a gale, and Captain Harrison began to fear that the crazy old sails would be blown away. In order to prevent such a catastrophe, the schooner was hove to and all hands set to work reefing sail.