“To-night?� gasped Raynor.
“Yep, Pompey is to have the wheel to-night. He has that duty every two weeks. At midnight he’ll be alone on deck and if we fix up like ghosts it would be dead easy to scare him and get at the boat on the stern davits and make our fare-you-well.�
The boldness of the plan almost overcame Raynor.
“Here’s de proposition,â€� went on Noddy. “If we don’t do it to-night we won’t have a show ter take a crack at it fer annudder two weeks—see. By dat time de men say we’ll be up among der ice where der seals are, an’ it wouldn’t do us no good if we did escape, fer deres mighty few craft up dere.â€�
“Well, I’m game,� said Raynor.
“Good for you,� and Noddy dropped his voice and began whispering the details of his plan. By the time they had finished their work the schooner was pitching and tossing wildly and they knew that the storm was on the increase. “But dat don’t make no never mind,� declared the Bowery boy. “I’ve heard de men say dat de whale boat ’ud live in seas dat would sink de schooner.�
They parted, Noddy to go forward to his bunk in a storeroom, where sails, paint, etc., were stored, and Raynor to his cabin. Terror Carson and his mate sat at the table. They took no notice of the lad. In his cabin Raynor did not take his clothes off. He could not have slept. The excitement of the projected escape would have prohibited that. Midnight was the hour agreed upon, and he listened to the ship’s bell sounding the slowly passing hours, and half hours, with great impatience. At last the growl of voices in the cabin ceased and then two doors banged and Raynor knew the captain and mate had turned in. Just then the bell struck seven times. It was eleven-thirty.
“This is a bad night to leave the ship,� mused Raynor, as he sat waiting for the chiming of eight bells.
The schooner appeared to be under a press of canvas, for her hull was heeled over at a steep angle. At times she appeared to rush skyward and then hurtle down into a bottomless abyss. Raynor hoped the whaleboat was as seaworthy as such a type of boat is reputed to be. The thought of abandoning the enterprise, however, did not, enter his head. As Noddy had pointed out, it might be their only chance of escape, and Raynor longed for nothing more than to get free of the Polly Ann. It was his paramount ambition and it would have taken more than a stormy night to stop him.
As eight bells struck, Raynor rose and cautiously opened the door of his cabin a crack.