CHAPTER XVIII
FRED’S LUCKY THROW
The three Rovers were alarmed, and with good reason. Such a snake at liberty on the deck of the water-logged steam yacht would be a constant source of danger.
“Are you positive you saw him, Randy?” questioned Jack.
“Positive!” was the ready reply. “Gee, but he was a big one, too!”
“Maybe we’d better warn the others,” broke in Fred. “That snake may go right after Andy or Small if they happen to be down on the deck.”
“I’m going out, snake or no snake!” came from the young major.
“Wait! Let’s get those hatchets and axes we saw back there,” cried Fred, and ran back, to return a minute later with two axes and a fair-sized hatchet.
Carrying these weapons ready for use, the three Rover boys mounted the runway cautiously. At first they saw nothing on the deck. Then Fred pointed excitedly to the wreckage at the bow.
“There he is!” he cried. “There he goes under those boards!”
“What are you yelling about?” came from Andy. He and the lanky sailor were still resting on the top of the cabin.
“It’s a big snake,” answered Jack. “He got loose and just came up a runway. There are a whole lot of them down below, in a big wire cage.”
“If we only had guns we could take a shot at that snake!” exclaimed Randy. “I’m sure we could soon blow him to pieces.”
“I’m going to take a shot of another kind!” exclaimed Fred, and, aiming as carefully as he could, he threw the hatchet with all the force he could command.
It was a light and sharp affair, and as the bright steel circled through the air the boys saw the snake twist around and for a moment its head came into view. Then the circling hatchet descended, cutting the snake deeply in the center of its body.
“You struck him, Fred!” exclaimed Randy, in delight.
“Yes, but he isn’t dead,” announced Jack, quickly.
“Look out! He may come for you!” came from Andy, who could see the reptile from where he was resting. And now in his excitement he stood up, and Ira Small did likewise.
The wound made by Fred’s hatchet was evidently a severe one, and, maddened with pain, the reptile whipped around and around on the forward deck. Then, of a sudden, it began to slide down the slope, and a moment later disappeared over the side of the yacht into the heaving ocean.
“He’s gone!” murmured Randy, in awe-struck tones.
“Yes; and I’m glad of it,” answered Jack. “Fred, that was certainly a dandy throw.”
“I’ll say it was a lucky one,” answered the youngest Rover boy modestly. His face had blanched and he was breathing heavily.
“For all we know, there may be more loose snakes around,” remarked Jack. “We’ll have to be on our guard every minute.”
“I move we look around the cabin for guns and pistols,” said Randy. “I’d feel a good deal better if I had some sort of firearm. It would be a protection, not only against the snakes, but against those wild beasts, if any of them should break loose.”
“If I had my way, I’d heave all the beasts and the snakes overboard,” came from Fred.
He armed himself again with the hatchet, and then the three boys rejoined Andy and the lanky sailor, and the five held a consultation.
“The steam yacht don’t seem to be settlin’ very fast,” said Ira Small. “So I don’t know but what your idee of lookin’ round for some weapons ain’t a first-class one. I’d like to have some kind of a shootin’ iron myself. A bullet travels a heap-sight quicker nor a club, or a hatchet, either. Not but what that crack of yours, lad, wasn’t a wonder,” he added hastily to Fred.
Without delay Jack and his two cousins re-entered the cabin and made a thorough search of that compartment and the staterooms adjoining. They kept their eyes open for more reptiles, but none appeared. In one stateroom they found a case containing two automatic pistols, and on a rack in another stateroom they found two double-barreled shotguns. All of the weapons were loaded; and they also found some extra ammunition.
“Now I guess we’ll feel better,” said Jack, after Fred and Randy had appropriated the pistols and he had armed himself with one of the guns. “I’ll take this other gun up to Andy and Small.”
“Here’s another pistol!” exclaimed Fred, having looked into a drawer under one of the stateroom beds. “It’s a small affair, but it looks to be all right and it’s fully loaded.”
“We’ll give that to Andy and that old sailor can take the shotgun. Then each of us will have a weapon.”
In one of the staterooms they had also found a good-sized flashlight, and this Jack placed in his pocket.
“I suppose we really ought to go down in the lower hold and find out how badly she is leaking,” he said. “Do you feel like going with me?”
“I don’t feel very much like it, Jack,” answered Fred, candidly. “But I suppose it ought to be done. We’ll take our weapons and the flashlight, and then maybe we’ll be safe. I don’t believe any wild beast would want to charge us with that light flashing into his face.”
The boys soon located the engine room of the steam yacht, and there found a ladder leading down to the lower hold, which was, as they later on found, connected with the upper deck by several hatchways, all of which had been battened down during the storm.
They found the hold divided into several compartments. Most of the doors of these compartments were closed and bolted. There was a miscellaneous cargo of boxes, crates and barrels, all thrown into hopeless confusion, caused by the listing of the vessel.
“She has not only settled on her port side, but she’s also settled at the stern,” said Jack. “That’s why the smashed-in bow is sticking so high in the air. There doesn’t seem to be any great amount of water forward, not over a foot at the deepest.”
With caution the boys climbed to the stern of the steam yacht, and there found the water in one place to be two and a half feet deep. They looked at it carefully and threw the searchlight on all sides, but could not bring themselves to believe that the water was becoming perceptibly higher.
“Do you know what I think?” said Jack, at last. “I think the only opening is at the bow, and the only water that’s coming in now is what we’re shipping from the rolling of the waves.”
“Then what makes the vessel sink at the stern?” questioned Fred. “Why didn’t she sink at the bow and go down?”
“I can’t answer that question, Fred. Maybe they shifted some of the cargo in an endeavor to get the hole up above the water line. Anyway, that’s how the thing is now, and I believe if we could get that hole closed in some way, she’d float for a long time. I’m going to ask Small about it; he knows more about ships than we do.”
The boys reported to Andy and the lanky sailor. Ira Small was greatly interested, and said it was quite possible that the only hole might be at the bow.
“Of course, the shock may have started a few of the seams below the water line,” he said. “But mebby that water comin’ in could be taken care of by the engine, or even the hand pumps. Anyway, it don’t look to me like she’d go down in a hurry. But I think we ought to try and close that there hole in the bow. It didn’t look to be more’n four or five feet an’ we kin easy cover that with a couple o’ tarpaulins, tyin’ ’em fast inside as well as out. You boys jest help me around a bit, an’ I’ll show you how it kin be done.”
The next couple of hours were busy ones for all on board the water-logged steam yacht. Even though his ankle hurt him considerably, Andy insisted on helping drag forward some heavy tarpaulins which were found stowed away on the vessel. When it came to adjusting the necessary ropes, Ira Small performed his share of the task. And so between all of them, two tarpaulins, one on top of the other, were lashed fast over the smashed-open bow of the vessel. Then Ira Small insisted upon going down in the forward hold to show the boys how the inner tarpaulin could be fastened so that little or no water could enter.
“Course it’s only a makeshift,” explained the lanky sailor. “But I’ve knowed sech a makeshift to last a long while. Now if we kin shift some o’ that cargo, mebby we kin git her on more or less of an even keel.”
“What about the water?” questioned Randy.
“Oh, we won’t touch that at present, lad. Let it stay in the stern. It’ll keep the bow up high, and that’s jest what we want. We’ll shut the door to the stern hold, so the water won’t run for’ard if the yacht begins to pitch.”
By the time the work was accomplished, and Jack, Fred and Randy had prepared supper, it was growing dark. All of those aboard the steam yacht were exhausted from their exertions and glad to rest and take their time at eating.
“I don’t want to do any more to-night,” said Fred. “I think the best we can do is to shut ourselves in the cabin and make ourselves as comfortable as possible in the staterooms.”
“Just what I was going to suggest,” answered Jack.
“Why can’t we take turns at staying on guard?” suggested Andy. “I’m willing to keep awake for two or three hours, and then, one after another, you fellows can be called to do the same.”
Thereupon it was decided that each person should spend two hours on guard.
“If it’s all the same to you boys, I’ll take the first watch,” said Ira Small. “I want to see if I can’t do somethin’ with the steerin’ gear aboard this yacht. If the rudder’s in workin’ order, I want to see if I can’t head her up to the waves so she’ll ride a bit easier.”
“Well, that’s all right; but don’t overtax your hurt leg,” answered Jack. “If you need any of us in a hurry, yell or fire off the gun.”
Lighting the lantern in the cabin, the boys opened the doors to the various staterooms and then proceeded to make themselves as comfortable as the disordered condition of the compartments permitted. They had found quite a quantity of clothing on board, and now proceeded to take a rub-down and don some dry garments.
“It’s wonderful how warm it is,” said Jack. “I didn’t feel a bit cold even with that wet stuff on.”
“We must have drifted southward,” returned Randy.
The lads were all too tired to do much talking, and having once gotten into some other underwear, they hung their own garments up to dry. Then, one after another, they lay down to get what rest they could.
At the end of a couple of hours Jack aroused himself, and, as his cousins were all sleeping soundly, he went outside to see how matters were going with the old sailor. He was just moving forward on the deck when he saw a dark shadow slinking along in the starlight.
The discovery filled him with alarm, and he stood stock still. Then the shadow took shape, and in another moment he saw that the object was a tiger!