CHAPTER XXVII
Farewell to Swan Island
Launching the dinghy, Burgoyne and his companions rowed off to the schooner. It was now close on high water and the wind had dropped to almost a flat calm. Laboriously they manned the winch until the cable was up and down, then for half an hour they toiled before they succeeded in breaking out the heavy anchor from the tenacious hold of the bed of the lagoon. Then followed a strenuous task under the broiling rays of the afternoon sun as they towed the vessel into the creek.
By that time Burgoyne realized that he had been over sanguine in his surmise. He had not taken into account the almost inevitable hitches in his plans, and he had forgotten the now patent fact that none of them had had a good sleep for the last thirty hours.
"She'll lie there nicely," he decided, as the anchor was let go and a stout warp taken ashore and made fast to a sturdy palm tree. "We'll spend the rest of the day making everything ship-shape, but I don't quite fancy sleeping aboard to-night."
The work of cleansing this maritime Augean stables proceeded with a will, for the schooner was indescribably filthy both on deck and below. Her paraffin motor was in a terribly neglected state, so that it was a source of wonder to Alwyn and Peter that the pirates ever succeeded in getting the engine to perform duty at all. Most of the running gear was good, having been renewed from cordage taken from the captured merchantmen; but the sails, though serviceable in light winds, did not appear to be capable of standing up to a stiff blow.
Of provisions they found a liberal quantity, although the quality left much to be desired. Aided by stores from the island, the new crew ought to be able to subsist comfortably for a month without having to reprovision the grub-lockers. Particularly acceptable were air-tight canisters of tea, coffee, and cocoa, boxes of sugar, and an unopened crate of condensed milk, as well as a variety of cooking utensils.
"Knock off time!" declared Burgoyne, to the relief of his weary and tired companions, although they had no cause for complaint that he had shirked his fair share. "We'll turn in in the cave to-night, since most of our gear's there. Bring that grub along, Jasper; I'll see to the kettle and the tea-pot; Peter, you cart along the knives, and milk, sugar, and tea. We're going to surprise Miss Vivian when she wakes up."
Soon after they landed a fire was blazing merrily. While the kettle was boiling Mostyn made some tea-cups by cutting out a section of several coco-nut shells. Although there were enamelled tea-cups in plenty on board, the three men could not bring themselves to make use of them. They were not fastidious, but they drew the line at drinking out of cups used by pirates.
Compared with the food to which they had been accustomed during their captivity at the secret base and their subsequent escape, the meal promised to be a sumptuous one.