Motor Boat Boys on the Great Lakes; or, Exploring the Mystic Isle of Mackinac

Nor did Herb have the heart to take him to task about it. Their situation was so very distressing that he could think of nothing else. Every time the lightning flamed athwart the black sky the boys would look out at the troubled waters stretching as far as the eye could see; or else send an anxious glance toward the grim rocks that loomed up so very close over their bows.

Hours seemed like days. Nick groaned, and declared he ached in every bone.

“What d’ye think of me, then?” demanded Josh. “You’re well padded; while I reckon my poor old bones are going to stick through, pretty soon. I dassent stand up, because George won’t let me; and you can. I wish you had my berth, Buster.”

But at last Herb declared that there were certainly signs of dawn coming in the east. Every eye was turned that way; and upon learning that the news was true the boys began to take on fresh hope.

“Well,” George said for the tenth time, “I’m glad of one thing, and that is we managed to get my engine in working order last night before supper. Goodness knows what a fix I’d have been in otherwise, if we had to put out to sea when the wind changed.”

“Oh! murdher! I hope it won’t do the same!” exclaimed Jimmie, who overheard the remark, and was filled with dismay as he surveyed the wild scene that stretched away off toward the southern horizon.

“Can’t we manage somehow to cook something warm?” asked George.

“Yes, that’s it,” immediately echoed Nick, beginning to bustle around in the steady old Comfort. “We’ll all feel so much better if we have breakfast. Nothing like a full stomach to put bravery in a fellow, I tell you.”

“Oh! how brave you must feel all the time, then!” observed Josh, sarcastically.

But Jack knew that this time the fat boy spoke the truth. When people are wet and shivering things are apt to look gloomy enough; but once warm them up, and let them eat a hot meal, and somehow a rosy tinge begins to paint the picture.

They knew just how to go about the matter; and those wonderful German Juwel kerosene gas stoves filled the bill to a dot; as Nick declared, after the delightful aroma of boiling coffee had begun to reach his eager nostrils.

And while the wind still howled through the pines up on the high rocks, and the billows rolled away toward the south, growing in size as they drew farther off shore, the motor boat boys sat down to a tasty breakfast.

“Now, this isn’t so bad,” observed Nick, as he started in on what had been dished out to him by Herb, who this time had done the cooking.

“It will be for the boss if he don’t get to work in a hurry,” Josh flung across the watery space that separated the boats.

“Don’t worry on my account,” laughed Herb. “I’ve got a mortgage on the balance in the fryingpan, and he’d better not touch it on his life.”

“Think the bally old storm is over, Jack?” asked Nick, presently.

“The worst of it is, and I believe the wind seems to be dying down a little,” came the ready reply, as Jack swept the heavens with anxious eyes.

“I thought that last gust came out a little more toward the west,” remarked one of the others.

“I’d hate to know that,” Jack said. “For old sailors say that when the wind backs up into the west, after being in the north, without going all the way around, it means a return of the storm, from another quarter.”

“Time enough to get ashore yet!” muttered Josh.

“Go ahead, if you want to,” George said grimly. “Take some grub along, if you make up your mind that way. But I don’t stir out of this boat unless I’m thrown out. Understand that?”

An hour later, and Jack saw that his worst fears were realized.

“Wind’s getting around fast now, fellows,” he announced.

“It sure is,” Herb admitted; for he had been noticing the increased roughness of the water for a little while back.

“What must we do, Jack?” asked George, with set teeth, and that look of determination in his eyes that stood for so much.

“Hold out as long as we can,” came the reply in a steady voice. “Then, when the danger of our being dashed against the rocks grows too great, we’ll just have to up-anchor, and start our engines to moving. It will be safer for us out yonder than so near the shore.”

Another half hour went by. Then the little boats were pitching and tossing violently, as the full force of the onrushing waves caught them.

“Can’t stand it much longer, Jack!” called out George, who was having the most serious time of all.

“Then we might as well make the move now as later!” called Jack. “So get going, both of you. And remember to stand by as close as you can, so that we may help in case an upset happens to any boat.”

Of course George knew his chum had the cranky Wireless in mind when he said this; but the peril was not alone confined to the one boat.

Accordingly the engines were started, the anchors gotten aboard after a tremendous amount of hard work; and the little motor boat fleet put to sea, with the intention of trying to ride the storm out as best they might.

If the engines only continued faithful all might yet be well.

CHAPTER XIX

PERIL RIDES THE STORM WAVES

There were anxious hearts among the young cruisers as they started to leave the vicinity of the shore, and head out upon the big heaving seas.

So long as they could keep the boats’ bows on the danger would not be so great as if they tried to turn; when those foam-crested waves would strike them sideways, and threaten to turn them on their beam-ends; which would mean destruction.

The motors sang like angry bees whenever the little propellers chanced to be exposed after a retreating wave had passed. This was where the greatest peril lay; for the strain on the engine and shaft was terrific at such times, owing to the rapid change of pace.

So Jack, Herb and George found themselves compelled to stick constantly at the job, manipulating the lever, so as to shut off power with each passing wave.

They did not make fast time away from the shore; but at the end of half an hour had reached a point where it seemed the height of folly to go farther.

“How is it, George?” Jack sang out.

“Everything moving smoothly over here so far,” came the reply.

“And you, Herb?” continued the commodore of the fleet.

“No fault to find, only it’s hard work; and I hope we don’t have to keep it up all day,” replied the skipper of the Comfort.

“I don’t think that is going to happen,” Jack observed. “Seems to me the wind is dying down. When that happens, the waves must gradually grow smaller. Perhaps by afternoon we may be able to proceed, and hunt for a harbor farther along.”

“Well, now,” George remarked. “I wouldn’t be sorry any, let me tell you, fellows. I’ve been balancing here like a circus acrobat this blessed hour and more, till my legs are stiff.”

“Think of me, would you!” bleated Nick.

“Shucks! you’re like a ball, and nothing ought to hurt you!” declared Josh.

“I’ve got feelings, all right, though,” the fat boy protested. “But I certain do hope we get our feet on solid ground right soon. I’d just love to see a fire going, and smell the hickory wood burning.”

“Yes, it’s something more than hickory wood you’re longing to smell, and we all know it for a fact,” Josh fired back at him.

Nevertheless, they one and all did find encouragement in what Jack had stated. The wind was certainly beginning to die out; and while as yet there could not be any appreciable difference noted in the size of the rollers upon which they mounted, to plunge into the abyss beyond, that would come in time.

During the morning that followed the boys who handled the engines of those three little power boats found occasion to bless the makers of the staunch motors that stood up so valiantly under this severe test.

They had taken on an additional supply of gasoline while at the Soo, and there was little danger of this giving out. Still, as Nick said, this energy was all wasted, and reminded him of soldiers “beating time.”

Now and then the boys were able to exchange remarks, especially the three who were not kept busy during this time.

Jack listened to what was said, and while he made no attempt to break into the conversation, he gathered from it that at least Nick, Jimmie and Josh were about ready to call the westward cruise off, and turn around.

So he made up his mind that the matter must be threshed out the very next time they could gather around a fire on shore. As for himself, Jack was thinking along the same lines, and ready to go back to Mackinac Island’s quiet waters, in the straits between Lakes Huron and Michigan.

Noon came along, to find them still buffeting the waves; but there had been a considerable change by then.

“After we’ve had a bite,” called out Jack, at which Nick instantly showed attention; “I think we’d better make a start out of this. The waves you notice no longer break, and while your boat would roll more or less, George, I don’t think you’d be in any great danger of turning turtle, do you?”

“Oh! I’m only too willing to put out,” came the answer. “Anything but this horrible marking time. I like to see the chips fly when I use an axe. I want to see results. And here, this blessed little motor has been churning away for hours, without getting away from our old stand. Yes, let’s eat and run.”

“That would be bad for digestion,” spoke up Nick. “I don’t believe in hurrying over meals. I was warned against doing it, unless I wanted to waste away to skin and bones like Josh here.”

“Oh! you can take as long as you like,” said Herb; “only get busy now, and dish up anything you can find. There’s some cold baked beans handy; and open some of that potted beef; it ought to be tasty with the crackers and cheese.”

“I’m on the job right off,” declared Nick. “You know you never have to hurry me about getting things to eat.”

“Mebbe that’s why your digestion is so good,” said Herb, sarcastically; but the fat boy only grinned as he crawled back to where the eatables were kept.

Later on they did head more toward the west, and start moving through the swinging seas. Constant watchfulness became necessary, for there was always danger that in some unguarded moment one of the billows might roll a boat over like a chip.

So they kept going on, constantly varying their course to meet emergencies, and making progress along the coast. It was splendid manœuvring for the young pilots of the motor boats; though they rather thought they had had quite enough of it, and would be only too glad to call a halt.

Jack was watching the shore line ahead, whenever he could, in order to learn if a haven came in sight. He had Jimmie frequently use the glasses when they were on a wave crest; and kept hoping to hear him cry out that he believed he had sighted the harbor they hoped to make before night came on.

As the waves still further diminished in size, they were enabled to make better time, since they no longer feared an upset. Indeed, about the middle of the afternoon they ceased entirely to head the boats into any billow; and all of them declared that they felt proud of what had been accomplished.

“I say, Jack!” called out George, as the two boats happened to draw near each other.

“Well, what is it?” answered the one addressed, popping his head up.

“How does it come, d’ye suppose, that we haven’t seen a blessed steamer all this morning, going in either direction?” George went on.

“Why,” replied Jack. “Because they had warning from the weather bureau that a storm was coming, and delayed starting out. These captains know what it is to meet up with a Lake Superior storm.”

“Yes,” spoke up Jimmie, “it’s only the nervy little boats like ours that laugh at all the blows as comes along. Look at us, would ye, smashin’ through the big waves like the sassy things. Slap! bang! and come again, would ye? Sure, it’s weather on’y fit for motor boats, it do be.”

“Yes,” laughed George, “we’re all mighty brave about now; but I tell you boys, I felt squeamish for hours when the storm was on. I knew what would happen to us if the wind whipped around before morning. Excuse me from another experience like that. Wonder where Clarence and Joe were then?”

“That’s so, they did go on,” Jack remarked. “I hope they had shelter. I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to be wrecked on such a terrible night.”

A short time later Jimmie cried out again: “There do be a steamer comin’ along there, Jack!”

“Steamer nothing!” echoed Josh, who happened to be using George’s glasses at the same time. “I’ve been watching that thing for five minutes now. And do you know what I think it is, fellows?”

“What?” demanded Jack, who could not leave his duties even for the minute that it would take to glance through the glasses.

“A wreck!” exclaimed Josh, with thrilling emphasis.

Then everybody sat up, and began to look eagerly in the direction mentioned. It was far out over the troubled waters; and the object could only be seen when it happened to be lifted on the crest of a wave.

“It is that same, upon me worrd!” cried Jimmie, presently. “I cud say the thing thin as plain as the nose on me face.”

“And boys, there’s some kind of a flag floating on it,” Josh went on.

“Upside down?” questioned Nick, eagerly.

“Looks like it to me,” came the answer.

“Then it’s a wreck, all right; because that’s the signal of distress,” Nick continued, now raising Herb’s glasses for a look.

“Oh! my! I believe it’s them!” he ejaculated a minute later.

At that Jack could stand it no longer.

“Here, Jimmie, you grab hold, and run this boat,” he said. “Keep her nose pointed just as she runs now, and whatever you do, don’t swing around, broadside on.”

Then, as Jimmie took hold of the wheel, the skipper raised the glasses for a look, while George awaited his report with ill-concealed eagerness.

“There, look now, Jack!” cried Josh.

Presently Jack took down the glasses, and there was a grave expression on his face.

“What did you see, Jack?” demanded George. “Something that’s bothered you some, I can tell by the way you frown.”

“That’s a sinking craft, all right, George,” replied the other, as he turned on all the power his engine was capable of producing, and sent the Tramp speeding directly into the waves. “More than that, I’m afraid I did recognize it, and, just as Nick said, it’s the power boat, Mermaid, carrying the banker, Mr. Roland Andrews, and his party. Boys, we must hurry to their rescue before they go down!”

CHAPTER XX

PAYING THE PENALTY

Immediately the little fleet of motor boats had taken up a course leading directly for the floating wreck. It looked like the height of folly for such miniature craft to thus put boldly out upon the bosom of that great inland sea; and nothing save a call to duty would ever have influenced Jack to make the venture.

They were strangely quiet as they continued to buffet the oncoming waves. Once in a while some one would ask the wielder of the marine glasses what he could see, and in this way all were kept informed.

Nick was trembling, so that there were times when he could hardly hold the glasses to his eyes.

“I see her!” he suddenly shouted in rapture. “Sallie’s still there, fellows! I can tell her among the lot. There, she sees me, I think, for the darling is waving her handkerchief! She wants me to hurry along, fellows; perhaps the blessed waterlogged power boat is getting ready to dip under! Can’t you throw on just a little more speed, Herb? Please do, to oblige me.”

No one thought to laugh, nor did Josh come up true to his name just then; for somehow they seemed to understand that it was a grave matter, and no time for joking.

Jack could see the figures on the partly submerged boat with the naked eye now, they were getting so close.

“Do you see the other girl, Rita Andrews?” he asked Jimmie; and was more pleased than he cared to show when the Irish boy answered in the affirmative.

“Oh! I only hope we get there in time!” groaned Nick, as he fumbled at the cork life preserver, as though intending to put it on again.

“What are you going to do with that thing, Buster?” demanded Herb, sharply.

“Get it around me,” the other replied, unblushingly.

“But you won’t need it; there’s not the least chance of our upsetting now.”

“All the same,” Nick responded, calmly; “how do I know but I may have to jump overboard after Sallie? She might slip in her great joy at seeing her preserver so near. And a pretty fellow I’d be not to keep myself ready to do the hero act. Besides, Herb, how do we know that the bally old boat mayn’t take a notion to duck under, just when we get close by? I believe in being prepared.”

“You’re right, Buster,” nodded the skipper. “Take my cork jacket too if so be you think you’ll need it. But please don’t go to jumping over just to show off. You might drown before her very eyes.”

“Oh! I’ll be careful, Herb. But since you say so, I believe I will keep your cork affair handy. She might need it; because you see, Sallie is no light weight, any more than me.”

He crouched there waiting, doubtless counting the seconds as they passed, and anxiously taking note of all that went on in the quarter whence they were headed.

Jack himself grew more nervous the closer they drew to the wreck. He realized that those on board were in extreme peril; for the powerboat seemed to be gradually sinking lower, inch by inch. At almost any time now it might give one tremendous heave, and then plunge, bow first, down in many fathoms of water, perhaps dragging some of the people aboard to death.

But at the same time Jack was figuring just how he and Herb must approach the wreck on the leeward side, where it would in a measure protect the small motor boats from the sweep of the seas. Here they would be able to take aboard as many of the imperiled ones as the rescuing craft could reasonably hold.

Jack also noted that there was a large lifeboat on the sinking craft. Possibly the oars had been swept away, rendering the craft helpless and useless. But if it could only be launched, the crew might occupy this, and be towed to safety by one of the little motor boats.

He fashioned his hands into a megaphone, while Jimmie tended the engine for a minute, and in this way called out:

“Have that boat launched. It will hold the crew, and we will give them a tow to the shore. Quick, sir; you have no time to lose!”

He saw the captain of the powerboat, still wearing his uniform, though without the jaunty blue cap that had once been a part of his makeup, give hurried orders. Then the lifeboat was shoved off the low deck, being held with a rope.

And a few minutes later the Tramp and the Comfort hauled in close under the lee of the big powerboat.

“Ladies first!” sang out Nick, as he balanced himself so as to be able to render any needed assistance.

Greatly to his joy Sallie seemed to choose the Comfort as her refuge. Perhaps she recognized the fact that it was by all odds the largest of the three motor boats, and hence more suitable to her heft. But it would be hard to convince Nick that this was the true reason. She saw him, and was willing to entrust herself in the charge of one who bore himself so gallantly.

Jack meanwhile had the pleasure of assisting the pretty and vivacious little Miss Andrews, whose first name was Rita, into his boat; to be followed by another lady passenger, and then the banker himself. The balance of the passengers managed to embark on the Comfort. George stood by, and offered to take one or two; but no one seemed to particularly care to entrust themselves on such a wobbly craft.

The captain and his little crew entered the lifeboat.

“Now, everybody get away as quick as you can!” called the man in uniform, “because she’s going down any minute. Make haste, or we may be drawn under by the suction.”

George had taken the long rope attached to the bow of the lifeboat, and fastened it securely to a ringbolt at the stern of his Wireless. He now started away, as did the other rescuing craft.

And none too soon was this manœuvre accomplished. Hardly had they gone ten boat lengths before a little shriek from Sallie announced that the final catastrophe was about to take place.

There was an upheaval of the sinking powerboat, a tremendous surge, and then only bubbles and foam on the surface told where the unlucky pleasure craft had vanished.

Little Miss Andrews cried a bit, perhaps because of the nervous excitement; but her father cheered her up.

“Never mind, Rita,” he said. “The boat was insured, and we can get another and better one when we want it. But for this season I think we’ve had about enough of the water. I tell you we ought to think ourselves fortunate to have these fine fellows come out to us just in the nick of time. We’ll never forget it, will we, girlie?”

Whereupon Jack was delighted to see the tears give way to a bright smile, as Rita looked at him, and nodded.

“How queer it seems,” she remarked demurely, a little later. “First Jack had to save my hat from a watery grave; and now he has rescued poor little me. Yes, I mean that he won’t forget us, dad. And I hope that we’ll see him some time at our Oak Park home, don’t you?”

“We’ll try and influence him, and also his brave chums, in whom I find myself deeply interested. Come to think of it, I fancy I already have something of an acquaintance with a Mr. Harvey Stormways, belonging in the town Jack calls his home. The one I met in Chicago was a banker, and a very clever gentleman.”

“That is my father,” said Jack, rosy with pleasure to think that his parent already knew Rita’s father.

Later on they discovered a landing place and managed to get ashore. All of them were delighted to once more set foot on solid land after their recent harrowing experiences.

And such a night they made of it. The captain had wisely secured a lot of stores before leaving the wreck of the Mermaid, so that there was little danger of any famine. Besides, as George said, aside, any camp that had been able to withstand the raids and assaults of a Buster all this while, would not be caught without plenty of eatables in the larder.

Around the camp fire they even made merry, since no lives had been lost in the wreck. Mr. Andrews told how they had escaped the first storm, only to be caught in the second, and rammed by some floating object, the nature of which they could only guess.

The pumps were manned, but by slow degrees the water had gained on them in spite of all their herculean efforts. And as we have seen, only for the coming of the motor boat boys a tragedy might have followed.

In the morning Jack promised to take them out to the first steamer that could be signalled, the crew in the lifeboat being towed behind the Comfort.

This he did, assisted by Herb.

And the balance of the young cruisers stood on the wooded bank, waving their hats and cheering as long as they could make their voices heard.

Nick was as happy as any one had ever seen him. Sallie had seemed to be fairly smitten with the charms of the fat boy, or else fancied having some girlish fun out of the meeting and their one trait in common; for she certainly had hovered near Buster since breakfast time, “making goo goo eyes at him,” as Josh declared. And now Nick, wishing to be in a position to see better than his chums, took the trouble to laboriously climb a tree that hung far out over the water.

Here, high above the heads of the rest, he sat and waved his red sweater, as an object that must attract the sparkling eyes of Miss Sallie longer than an ordinary hat, or white handkerchief.

“Hurray! hurray!” he shouted at the top of his voice; but perhaps Buster may have been too violent in his gestures, or else neglected to maintain his grasp on the limb; for suddenly there was an awful splash, and the fat boy vanished out of sight in the lake, which happened to be fairly deep close up to the shore.

CHAPTER XXI

ANOTHER SURPRISE

“Help! help!”

“What’s all the row about?”

“Buster’s fallen in again! Somebody get a rope, and lasso him!”

“There he comes up! My! what a floundering time! He may be drowned, Jack!”

But Jack knew better, and only laughed as he replied to Herb:

“You forget that he’s still wearing that lovely cork life preserver. It gives him such a manly look; and Buster thinks it adds to the admiration of a certain young lady.”