Up The Baltic Part 8

"Not yet," replied Sanford. "If you wish to take a walk, I will push off from the sh.o.r.e, and wait till you return," said Sanford, very respectfully.

"What's up? You won't go on sh.o.r.e, and you wish me to do so!"

exclaimed the suspicious officer.

"Nothing, sir," protested Sanford. "We don't intend to run away. We think that is played out."

"If you wanted to do so in this desolate country, I would let you do it, if I were the princ.i.p.al. But you are up to some trick, I know."

"What trick, sir?" demanded the c.o.xswain, innocently.

"I don't know, but it is your next move," replied De Forrest, as he seated himself, and seemed confident of his ability to check any mischief which might be in the minds of his crew. "Shove off, bowman!

Up oars! Let fall! Give way together!"

The oarsmen, rather vexed at the turn of events, obeyed the several orders, and the boat was again cutting the still waters of the fjord.

All around them were rocks, with several large and small islands in sight. In various places on the rocks were affixed iron rings, to which vessels could make fast in warping out of the bay when the wind was light or foul. A portion of the rock to which they were attached was whitewashed, so that the rings could easily be found, even in the night. To one of these rings, on a small island near Oddero, which commanded a full view of the landing-place, De Forrest directed the c.o.xswain to steer the boat.

"Make fast to that ring," said the officer.

"Ay, ay, sir," replied the bowman.

"Perhaps you would like to land here," added the lieutenant, in a jeering tone, as though he felt that he had checkmated his crew in any evil purpose they entertained. "Whether you do or not, I think I shall stretch my legs on these rocks."

De Forrest leaped from thwart to thwart, and then over the bow upon the island, as though he felt nothing but contempt for the power of the boat's crew to do mischief. He walked up the rough rocks to the summit of the islet, where he paused, and for the first time glanced at his companions, whom he suspected of harboring some design against the peace and dignity of the s.h.i.+p. As he did so, he discovered a steamer, which had just pa.s.sed through the narrow opening between Oddero and the main land, and whose course lay close to the point of the island where the cutter was moored. He saw that the swash of the steamer was likely to throw the boat on the rocks, and grind her planking upon the sharp points of the island.

"In the boat!" he shouted, l.u.s.tily. "Shove off!"

Sanford saw the danger which the lieutenant wished to avert, and promptly obeyed the orders.

"Shove off, Stockwell!" he promptly shouted. "Up oars! Stern, all!

Give way!"

Stockwell gave a tremendously hard push when he shoved off, and the cutter shot far out upon the still waters; in fact, so far that she was forced directly into the way of the approaching steamer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ACCIDENT TO THE SECOND CUTTER. Page 57.]

"Oars!" yelled the c.o.xswain furiously, when he saw that he had overdone the matter. "Hold water! Go ahead! Give way!"

The crew, even in this moment of deadly peril,--for it looked as though, in another instant, they would all be under the wheels of the steamer,--obeyed every command with their wonted precision. But it was a second too late to take the back track. If the boat had continued to back as at first, she would probably have escaped, for the steamer put her helm a-starboard a little, in order to favor her manoeuvre. When a collision seemed inevitable, the steamer's bell was rung to stop her, and then to back her.

She struck the cutter; but as her progress had been powerfully checked, the blow did not carry her under, though it stove in the side of the boat. The water poured in through the broken broadside, and the crew sprang for their lives. They leaped upon the guys and bob-stays of the steamer, and were hauled in by the people on the bow.

"Come out of there, Ole," said Stockwell, as he pulled the boat's sail from the extended form of the waif, who was concealed in the bottom of the boat.

Ole lost not a moment in following the example of his companions. As the steamer's headway had now been entirely checked, Stockwell held the wrecked cutter in her position, while Rodman pa.s.sed the pea-jackets up to the forecastle of the steamer. Having done this, they abandoned the boat, and followed the example of their companions.

No one was drowned, or even wet above his knees, for the steamer had struck the boat just hard enough to stave in her side, without carrying her under.

The Norwegians hooked up the boat's painter, and taking it in tow, proceeded on her course; for the captain--as interpreted by Ole--declared that his boat carried the mail, and he could not wait for anything.

CHAPTER IV.

NORWAY IN THE PAST AND THE PRESENT.

"Clear away the first cutter!" shouted the first lieutenant of the Young America, from whose deck the catastrophe to the second cutter had been observed.

"All the first cutters!" piped the boatswain, with an energy inspired by the stirring occasion.

"That was very carelessly done," said Mr. Lowington, whose attention had been called to the scene.

"The steamer ran within a couple of rods of the island," added Captain c.u.mberland. "I saw the fourth lieutenant order the boat to shove off; I suppose he did it to prevent the swash of the steamer from grinding the cutter on the rocks."

"What is he doing among those rocks?" asked the princ.i.p.al.

"I don't know, sir. He landed Mr. Mapps and the doctor, and was ordered to wait for them. I don't see why he went over to that island."

The second lieutenant was directed to take charge of the first cutter; Peaks, the adult boatswain, and Bitts, the carpenter, were ordered to go also, to render any a.s.sistance which might be required in succoring the stove boat. The cutter shoved off, her twelve oars struck the water together, and the crew gave way with an energy which caused their oars to bend like twigs, while the barge leaped through the water as though it was some monster of the deep goaded to his utmost to escape the wrath of a more potent pursuer.

"With a will, my lads!" shouted the c.o.xswain. "Steady! Keep the stroke, but use your muscle!"

"There's a job for you, Bitts," said the boatswain, as the Norwegian took the second cutter in tow.

"And a heavy job it will be, too," replied Bitts. "I wonder there is anything left of the boat."

"The steamer stopped her wheels, and backed some time before she struck, or there would not have been much left of the boat, or her crew," added Peaks. "Thank G.o.d, the boys are all safe."

"It's a lucky escape for them."

"So it was; and we needn't say anything about the boat."

"The steamer is going ahead," said the carpenter.

"No matter for that, so long as the boys are all safe," replied Peaks.

The people in the steamer seemed to take no notice of the first cutter, appearing not to understand that it had come out for the wrecked crew. But as the boat pulled towards her, she cast off the cutter in tow.

"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted Norwood, the second lieutenant, as he saw the cutter cast adrift.

She made no reply, but hoisted a flag, on which appeared the word "Post," with something else which none in the first cutter could understand.

"She's a mail boat," said the boatswain; "and I suppose she intends to say she is in a hurry."

"Does she mean to carry off the crew of that boat?" demanded the second lieutenant, not a little vexed at the conduct of the Norwegians.

"She will not carry them far," suggested Dunlap, the c.o.xswain.

"She may take them to Bergen."