“Of course she is,” Michel laughed; “she’ll have to put to sea; she can’t lie there in a norther, and you’ll see no more of her till the storm is over. That often happens here.”
“And what becomes of a cabin boy who happens to be left on shore?” Kit asked, half inclined to laugh at the predicament he was in.
“You’re better off here than on the ship,” Michel answered, “and we won’t let you starve.”
By this time the whole sky was overcast, and frequent blasts of the cold wind struck them. The foremost of the lighters arrived, and their men worked like beavers to land what cargo they had. All about were men on the beach drawing their boats far up on shore out of reach of the heavy sea that they knew was coming. As fast as the lighters were unloaded, they too were drawn up. It was as much too cold now as before it had been too hot, but they had to stay on the mole till everything was checked off.
“Now make a run for it to the warehouse!” It was the voice of Mr. Ysnard, who had come down to see that all was left snug, and who saw that both the youngsters were shivering. Already the spray was beginning to fly over the mole, and in one glance seaward Kit saw that the North Cape was standing out into the Gulf. He was left alone in Yucatan; but instead of waiting to worry over it, he took to his heels and beat Michel to the warehouse by several yards.
There he hardly knew the place, it was so dark; for all the shutters on the seaward side had been closed to keep out the wind, as there was no glass in the windows. People were hurrying through the streets, and the sky was growing blacker every minute.
“Now we’ll catch it, my boy,” Mr. Ysnard laughed, as he followed them in, half soaked with spray. “Three days these things last, generally, and then it takes two or three more for the sea to go down so that the lighters can go out. So you are a prisoner in Mexico for five days at least, and you will be my guest longer than you expected.”
“Thank you, sir,” Kit answered; “but I hope the ship will not be in any danger.”
“Oh, no more than from any other storm. There is plenty of sea room, and she will run out fifty or a hundred miles and keep her nose in the wind. No, she will be all right.”
The breakfast table had to be set in the warehouse, as the verandah was too much exposed to the wind; and Kit noticed that the norther interfered with business and upset everything just about as much as an earthquake would at home. The clerks really suffered from cold, though Kit found it warm enough in the shelter of the building. The storm increased every minute, and they soon began to hear the roar of the sea breaking against the mole.