Keeping His Course

by Ralph Henry Barbour

Toby only nodded, but Arnold seemed satisfied, and by actual consent the subject was abandoned.

Fortunately for them, they had donned the oilskins before starting across, for the spray was showering in at every dip of the boat’s bow and things were getting pretty moist. Now and then, as she quartered the waves, the Urnove playfully put her nose under one and deposited a good share of it inside. By the time they had covered half the distance the well was full and the water was splashing up between the gratings.

“We’ll have to bail her out before we come back,” said Arnold.

“Yes, and I guess we’d better come back pretty quick,” was the reply. “I don’t like the weather much. This wind’s swinging around into the southeast and there’ll be quite a sea before long.”

“It won’t bother this little boat,” laughed Arnold. “And I guess we don’t mind getting wet, do we?”

“I don’t if you don’t. Just the same, I guess we’ll beat it back without waiting until half-past.”

“There’s a launch over there,” said Arnold, peering under his hand to keep the spray from his eyes, “that seems to be making hard weather of it. Look at the way she’s tossing! She’s a big one, too, isn’t she? A trunk-cabin boat. What’s the signal she’s flying, Toby?”

“I can’t see. Looks to me as though she were anchored. Queer place to drop her mud-hook, though. Look out for this sea, Arn! It’s coming in!”

It did come in and with a vengeance, and although they ducked their heads to it it managed to get down their necks and up their sleeves and left them drenched and laughing. They forgot the cabin cruiser then and brought the Urnove’s head around a bit and scuttled for the landing. The wind was whistling loudly by that time and a sullen wrack of clouds was scudding fast overhead. They made the lee side of the little landing and found themselves partly out of the wind and in fairly calm water. They dried their faces as best they could with their handkerchiefs and then set about bailing the water from the bottom of the launch. By the time they had finished it was so nearly the half-hour that Toby felt no hesitancy in starting back. No one was in sight on the road to the landing and so, starting the engine again and casting off, they slipped out of their haven and faced the elements once more. At the worst, as Toby said, there was no danger, but they could ship a good deal of water and get pretty wet, and since the motor was exposed the water frequently caused a short-circuit and slowed down the engine. To obviate those drawbacks, they headed the launch out so that she took the seas on her port bow, meaning to presently swing around and run before them. That the latter intention was not carried out was due to the fact that their first course took them in the direction of the big cruising launch which they had noticed on the way over, and that Toby, discerning something queer in the way in which she tumbled and wallowed about, looked more closely and gave vent to a grunt of surprise.