The Corner House Girls on Palm Island Part 16

"Saved money! Why, Agnes, they're not out of debt yet for what they owed to the butcher and the grocer and a whole lot of other people!"

"Yes, and think of its being in the dead of winter, too!" went on the sister, with a troubled face. "I do hope they've coal and wood enough in the house to keep warm."

"Yes, and clothing too. Think of those children going out in the bitter cold winter weather only about half clad!"

Nothing at present could be done, however, by any of them to help the Pendletons. Matters would have to take their course. Mr. Howbridge knew that his clerk would be informed of Oscar Pendleton's loss of employment and would take steps to aid the family accordingly. But nothing vital could be done for the Pendletons until the truth about the robbery of the Kolbeck & Roods warehouse was discovered.

Luke came back with Professor Keeps from their first expedition for the study of the flora of the island. The botanist was delighted with his discoveries, and he was intent upon cla.s.sifying and mounting his specimens during the next few days, so his young a.s.sistant was excused from attendance upon him.

The Kenway party planned a voyage around the island, for Mr. Howbridge's business friend owned a large motor-boat and had put the craft at the disposal of the party from the North.

Both Neale and Luke had some knowledge of the management of a launch, and the Kenway party got under way early one morning, provisioned for a voyage of at least forty-eight hours. That they took no native seaman along was a misfortune rather than an oversight. The caretaker of Senor Benno's motor-launch had been taken ill during the night and lay groaning in his hammock unable to go with the "Americanos."

"Shucks!" grumbled Neale, "we don't need him. He wouldn't be much good anyway, like enough."

"I suppose he would know the shoals and tides better than we do," said Luke.

"I've got the newest chart," declared Neale. "And we will have a care in getting near the islands. Now, don't say anything to scare the girls."

"How will you scare them?" Luke wanted to know. "Agnes will always take a chance, and Ruth really isn't much afraid of anything. As for the kids--"

"Well, then," Neale added, grinning, "say nothing to Mr. Howbridge or he will want to send up to the hotel for Hedden. And Hedden, you know, would want to serve afternoon tea at five, even if we were wrecked on a desert island."

They laughed over the possibilities of catastrophe, without considering that anything may happen upon a voyage like this, and in these tropical but treacherous seas.

The day was gloriously fair, and the motor at first acted as though charmed. The craft, named _Isobel_, made the circuit of the island long before evening. They had kept well off sh.o.r.e and were then in sight of the string of pearl-like islets that extended farther than they could see into the southeast. Palm-fronded, edged with white ruffles of water, and in the distance hazed in blue, they made an entrancing picture.

"We must see them all," Ruth declared. "Doesn't your chart tell you where there is a cove, or bay, where we can spend the night in safety, Neale?"

"Of course. And we can get there before nightfall," declared Neale.

"What do you say, Mr. Howbridge?" Ruth asked their guardian.

"It seems quite safe to venture," the lawyer returned. "Is the engine acting all right, boys?"

"Don't see anything the matter with it," replied Luke.

But one can never prophesy regarding a motor-boat engine.

St. Sergius was twenty-five miles behind them, and the nearer of the chain of small islands was not less than ten miles away, when the power went wrong on the _Isobel_.

"That comes of blowing about how fine she worked without knocking wood,"

grumbled Neale O'Neil.

"Is it going to keep us long?" asked Agnes.

"What a ridiculous question that is!" rejoined her friend. "Am I a prophet, or the son of a prophet? What do you say, Luke?"

Luke had been scanning the horizon to westward. He stepped down into the c.o.c.kpit of the _Isobel_ with some haste.

"I tell you what I think about one thing, Neale," he whispered in the latter's ear. "There is going to be a change in the weather-and a big change-within a very short time."

"For the worse?" asked Neale, startled.

"It couldn't be for the better," replied Luke. "We've had a perfect day; but the end of it is going to be squally. And I've heard that even at this time of year, which is not the hurricane season, the weather in this part of the Caribbean can be distinctly nasty."

CHAPTER XII

THE ISLAND REFUGE

Those streaks on the horizon foreboded evil weather, as Luke had feared.

None of the party on the _Isobel_ had ever seen a storm gather so quickly. In an hour the waves were white-capped and those blue streaks of wind had reached the zenith.

Behind it, from the west, rolled up a pallid hedge of mist, back of which the stronger wind growled like a leashed dog. Lightning fluttered across the face of the coming cloud-bank. Then the crackle of thunder rose louder and louder.

Luke and Neale, even Mr. Howbridge, worked at the stalled motor. They took turns whirling the fly-wheel. There was no more response than as though they had stood up and commanded the tempest to recede.

Fortunately the children did not understand the threat of the elements.

Tess and Dot were not often affrighted by a thunderstorm. And Ruth and Agnes could not wholly understand what was coming.

There was not the usual hush which is so often noted before the striking of such a tempest. In this case the wind and lightning drew on with equal velocity; but the rain stayed behind. On and on the forefront of the storm came, as savagely persistent as a pack of wolves, and then leaped upon its prey with a force that seemed to crush every object on the surface of the sea.

The only craft in sight was their own _Isobel_. The waves flattened about her for a considerable s.p.a.ce, and for some moments, as though the wind came from directly overhead.

"Get inside, every one of you girls!" commanded Mr. Howbridge, shouting at the top of his voice. "Close that cabin door and keep it closed."

The little ones were already below. Ruth went down the steps, shouting back over her shoulder:

"You'd all better come too. You can do nothing here."

Agnes scuttled behind her, terrified indeed. They jammed shut the slide.

Almost the next instant the thunder of the rain on the deck deafened those in the cabin. The two boys and the lawyer lay under a tarpaulin which shed a portion of the deluge. But they could not distinguish each other's speech.

It seemed as though the very weight of the rain must sink the motor-boat. It thundered on the deck and foamed in the c.o.c.kpit. Such a cloudburst none of them had ever seen, or even dreamed of.

In ten minutes the rain pa.s.sed. It roared on toward the east like the rattle of a giant drum corps. But the darkness and wind remained. It was impossible to see more than a few yards about the _Isobel_. Islands, and all, had disappeared. But the launch was moving now-racing into the east, like the rain, and with all the force of the wind and sea astern.

Neale crawled out from under the tarpaulin and climbed up on a cus.h.i.+on seat out of the knee-deep water. That water was roaring out through the vents, or seeping into the lower bilge. When Luke got up he made straight for the pump and began to work it. It sucked immediately, and the water spurted through the hosepipe.

"My goodness, boys!" shouted Mr. Howbridge, "what are we going to do?"

"Keep our eyes open for an island," shouted back Neale.

"Hope we'll find one," was the muttered reply.