Chapter 14

SAFE UNDER A LEE.

"How do you know she is aground, Dory?" asked Corny, after a careful examination of the position of the Missisquoi.

"She wouldn't have stopped there if she hadn't got aground. She has done the very thing I wanted her to do, and the very thing I did my best to have her do," replied Dory triumphantly.

"Do you mean to say that you did it, Dory?" asked Thad, still pumping away with all his might.

"I don't mean to say that I got the steamer aground. I saw that neither Captain Vesey nor the other fellow knew much about the lake; for the Missisquoi followed the Goldwing wherever she went," Dory explained. "I ran close to the island, hoping the steamer would follow me, as she has been doing, because there is not more than four feet of water close up to the land where I went. She had either to follow us in a straight line, or to go to the southward of the shoal. I was sure to make something in getting away from her."

"What will she do now?" inquired Dick Short.

"She must either work off the shoal, or stay there; and I am sure I don't care what she does," added Dory, as he looked ahead at the savage waves that were piling up in the path of the schooner.

The Goldwing was more than half way across the lake: and, the farther she went, the rougher the lake was; for the longer was the sweep of the wind. But Dory was not in a hurry when he found the steamer could no longer follow him. He had been very careful not to lose any thing by letting off the main-sheet, except when it was absolutely necessary to do so in order to keep the boat right side up.

Going nearly before the wind, it took a long sweep to reduce the pressure on the mainsail; and the water flowed in over the lee side about as fast as Thad could pump it out. The boys looked at each other, and there is no doubt that they all wished they were on shore. They kept an eye on the skipper's face, to note any anxiety or alarm on his part. Dory was confident the boat would not take in water enough to swamp her while he could control her with the helm; but he felt that he had his hands full, and that he should be very fortunate if nothing happened to cripple the boat.

"I have got about enough of this thing," said Thad.

"Nat, you take Thad's place at the pump," interposed Dory. "One hand needn't do all the hard work."

"All right! I am ready to do my share of the work," replied Nat, as he took Thad's place at the pump.

"I didn't mean that. I am not tired," added Thad. "The farther we go the worse it is, Dory; and I have had about enough of this sort of sailing."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" asked Dory pleasantly. "Are you going to get out, and walk the rest of the way? Or will you swim ashore? I don't think you will find it is any easier walking or swimming, or any safer."

"Can't we turn about and go back?" inquired Thad, looking with dismay at the waves ahead, and at the water that poured in over both rails.

"We are more than half way over, and it is hardly worth while to go about," replied Dory. "If we return, we shall have to beat back; but we are in no hurry now, and perhaps we can ease off a little more."

"I don't see how you are going to ease off, Dory," said Thad. "Here we are right in the thick of it; and we must take it as it comes, unless you go back."

"Do you see those cleats on the mainmast, Thad?" asked Dory, making ready to do something,--"one on each side of the mast, with a rope leading up? Do you see them?"

"I don't know what cleats are," answered Thad.

"Those brass things, with ropes around them."

"I see them. These are what you hoist the sail with," added Thad, as he grasped the ropes.

"Now let go both ropes together when I give the word. Not yet! All the rest of you, grab the sail when it comes down, and mind the gaff don't hit you in the head."

"What are you going to do, Dory?" asked Thad. "I have the ropes in my hands."

"I am going to take in the mainsail. That will ease her off; and I can work her before it with the jib alone."

At this moment a tremendous gust struck the mainsail, and Dory crowded the helm down; but the schooner took in a large quantity of water over the lee side as she careened.

"Let go the halyards, Thad!" shouted the skipper as the boat swept around. "Look out for the sail, all of you!"

But the sail did not readily come down, the pressure upon it causing it to bind. But Dory continued to luff until it was released.

"Haul down the sail lively!" called Dory with energy, when the canvas began to thrash and beat about as though it was bound to tear itself into shreds.

Under the direction of the skipper the sail was secured after a great deal of difficulty. Dory let her off again under the jib alone. This proved to be a decided change for the better. The Goldwing kept on a tolerably even keel, and drove ahead almost as fast as she did before.

"She's doing a good deal better," said Thad, who began to breathe freer than he had since the boat went into the worst of it. "Why didn't we do that before?"

"Because we were trying to keep out of the way of the Missisquoi before," replied Dory.

But it was not baby play, even with nothing but the jib set. The mainsail had steadied the boat to some extent; but now she began to roll tremendously, and was not so readily controlled by the helm. The waves broke over her on the weather side, but she did not scoop up the water on the lee side.

The Goldwing had taken in so much water that it was swashing about in the standing-room. Dory directed Nat to keep pumping. Dick Short was told to take a pail which belonged to the boat, and Corny was armed with a tin dipper. The members of the club were glad to have something to do, as almost any nervous person is; and they worked with tremendous zeal. In a short time the pump sucked, and not another dipperful of water could be taken up in the well.

"Now we are all right," said Dory. "We can take it easy now."

"We are almost over to Providence Island," added Corny.

"We shall be in smooth water in ten minutes more."

"But we are a long way from Burlington," suggested Thad.

"At least a dozen miles," said the skipper. "Of course you know that we can't get there, fellows, without going outside of Colchester Point. All the rest of the way is quite as bad as, if not worse than, we have been having for the last twenty minutes."

"Are we going right along to Burlington, Dory?" asked Thad in dismay at the information given by the skipper.

"I think not at present," replied Dory. "But you have been through this once before to-day."

"It wasn't half so bad as it is now," protested Corny. "It didn't begin to blow very hard until we got to Valcour's Island."

"Did the Missisquoi make better weather of it than the Goldwing?" asked Dory.

"The lake didn't begin to be as rough as it was a little while ago," replied Corny. "The steamer pitched tremendously, and we all had to pump after we got beyond Valcour's."

"Do you see any thing of the Missisquoi?" asked Dory, who had been too busy to give any attention to the steamer.

"I can just see her at the south of the island. She has not got off yet," replied Corny.

"She is under the lee of the two islands; and they can be very comfortable on board of her for the rest of the day,--a great deal more comfortable than they would be out in the lake where we have been," added Dory.

The Goldwing was abreast of Providence Island by this time. The waves swept furiously along the south-west shore of the land.

As soon as she reached the south-east point, the skipper luffed up; but the boat was not inclined to make any headway on the new course.

"Let off the centre-board, Thad," said the skipper, as the boat began to make more leeway than headway.

Thad had got the hang of this rope; and, as the centre-board went down, the boat came up to the work. With the help of an oar and a great deal of coaxing, the skipper got her close up to the shore in seven feet of water. He had instructed Corny how to get the anchor overboard. The boat was entirely out of the heavy sea, though the water rose and fell under the influence of the waves which were rolling along the other side of the island.

"Here we are as safe as though we had the boat on the top of Mansfield Mountain," said Dory, after he had secured the cable, and stowed the jib.

"I never expected to come out of it alive," said Thad, as the skipper seated himself in the standing-room to recover from the excitement of the perilous run across the lake.

"Nor I either," added Nat Long.

"It looked very shaky," said Corny; "but I didn't give it up at any time."

"Now, really, Dory, did you expect to get out of that scrape?" asked Thad. "Be honest about it, and tell us what you actually thought."

"Of course I knew that something might break, just as I know that a horse may run away with me when I'm out riding. The wagon or the harness might break, and that would spoil the best calculation," replied Dory.

"But, without any thing breaking, didn't you expect the boat would go to the bottom?" urged Thad.

"I didn't expect any thing of the kind. I have been out in a sailboat when it was as bad or worse than it is to-day. If nothing broke, I knew we should come out of it all right; and I never thought of such a thing as going to the bottom. It looks a good deal worse to you fellows who were never out in a sailboat when it blew hard than it really is. I didn't think there was any great danger when we started out: if I had, I shouldn't have come over," said Dory quietly.

The members of the Goldwing Club had the idea that they had had a narrow escape, and the skipper was not inclined to allow them to make heroes of themselves. The motion of a boat in a heavy sea seems terrible to those who are not accustomed to it, and the boys were disposed to make the worst of it.

"I wouldn't try it again if you would give me the Goldwing," said Thad with emphasis.

"After you have been through that sort of thing a few times, you will not mind it at all. It was what I call a lively time: that's all," added Dory. "I went down to St. John with Bill Pitts in a sailboat, and we had a rougher time than this all one day."

Dory thought he should like the rest of his dinner by this time.