Tom’s and Jerry’s clothes having been handed into the boat, they dressed themselves, while the rest of the party pulled down the bay.
“I vote we eat the fish while it’s warm,” said Billy Blueblazes, whose appetite (as Gerald used to say of him) “no dangers could daunt.”
“Just hand me a slice, and I’ll eat it as I pull.” This proposal was seconded by the looks of the men, and Tom accordingly passed portions, with some biscuit, forward. The crew ate the fish with gusto. They were wise in so doing, as they might have a long pull before them. Another and another gun was heard.
“Those guns were not fired in the harbour,” observed Tom; “the ship must have put to sea.”
Gerald agreed with him; but as yet the reef, which ran across the mouth of the bay, concealed her from sight. The wind had lately been blowing from all quarters—now down the harbour, now directly across it—until at length a heavy squall came in through the entrance.
“We shall have a strong wind in our teeth, and a pretty heavy pull,” observed Tom to Gerald. “I wish we had not spent so much time here; and I shall justly get the blame, if anything happens.”
“It won’t much matter who gets the blame if we happen to be all drowned,” answered Gerald. “However, as we were known to have gone in this direction, the captain will probably stand along the shore to pick us up; and the chances are that we shall be safe on board within an hour or so.”
The men had now to bend their backs to the oars to force the boat over the heavy seas which came rolling in through the narrow entrance. Under other circumstances, Tom would have put back and waited for an improvement in the weather; but the signal of recall was peremptory, and he considered it his duty to try and get on board at all risks. The sea, which had been so calm when they pulled along the coast, was now tossed into heavy foam-crested billows, which came rolling on in rapid succession, bursting with loud roars against the rock-bound shore, and casting sheets of spray over the reef.
“We must heave our cargo overboard,” said Tom, when he saw the heavy seas come tumbling in. “The lighter the boat is the better.”
The fish, with which they hoped to regale their shipmates, were quickly thrown overboard.