It was a situation to frighten the bravest. To add to the peril of the boys’ position, they had too appalling evidence of the fact that the North Sea was strewn with floating mines which, even the impact of a small craft, like the one in which they were drifting at the mercy of the winds and waves, would serve to detonate.
Small wonder, then, that after a while conversation grew more and more desultory until at length they each sat silent, gloomily surveying their predicament. Fortunately, there was no hot sun to beat down on them and aggravate the thirst both were already beginning to feel. But even with cool weather they could not hope to fight off the agonies of thirst for long. Food, so far, was a secondary consideration.
Then, too, the frail nature of their craft gave them cause for anxiety. The gale showed as yet no signs of breaking up. From time to time the ragged tops of great waves were ripped off by the fury of the wind, deluging the boat in spray. It was necessary to keep bailing constantly if they hoped to remain afloat.
The constant buffeting to which they were subjected was dizzying and nauseating. Both lads ached in every limb. In a way they were glad to have the exercise afforded by bailing, for it went a long way to keeping their minds employed and their limbs from stiffening in the cramped, wet boat.
Yet their nerves showed no outward sign of a breakdown. From time to time they exchanged sentences intended to be cheerful; but it was a ghastly sort of merriment of which they soon tired. Thus the hours wore away and darkness set in with a slight dimunition of the violence of the wind and signs, by the clearing of the sky, that the break of the gale was at hand.
But they dared not sleep through the hours of darkness, except in hasty snatches. Had the bailing pail been left alone for even an hour, the boat inevitably would have been swamped. By midnight, though, the sea was much smoother. Their dizzied heads, racked by the incessant tossing, became clearer. They looked about them. Suddenly Jack gave a shout.
“Look! Look yonder!”
A short distance off, and apparently bearing down on them, were the red and green sidelights and the bright white mast-head signal of a steamer!
Bill broke into a shout.
“Hurray, Jack, we’re saved!”