AGROUND.
As may be imagined, Jim felt very wide awake when he staggered to his feet, after being thrown so violently against Walter that both rolled to the floor, and his first thought was that all the trouble had originated in the engine-room.
The escaping steam enveloped both brig and tug in a fog-like vapor so dense as to be almost stifling, and for several moments it was impossible to distinguish objects a dozen feet distant.
That the old sailor had gained the Bonita's deck with wonderful celerity could be told from the shouts of inquiry which he uttered in rapid succession; and before the first bewilderment, caused by the shock, had passed away, Jim was outside the pilot-house trying to answer the questions.
"Steamer ahoy! What's the matter?" Bob shouted.
"I don't know; but it seems as if the tug has exploded somewhere!"
"That can't be if she's still afloat," Bob cried testily, and from the sound of his voice Jim knew he was making his way toward the rail.
"I must have fallen asleep for a second, an' was awakened by bein' knocked down," Jim said penitently.
At that instant a dark figure could be seen coming from the engine-room, and a faint voice cried:
"One of the boiler-tubes blew out when we struck the rock. Somebody must help draw the fires, for I'm burned pretty bad about the arms and face."
"Struck a rock?" Bob shouted fiercely, as he made his way toward Joe, who had retreated aft to free his lungs of the deadly vapor. "Are we aground, Jim?"
"Not that I know of," the young fisherman replied in a tone of bewilderment. "My eyes couldn't have been shut more'n a minute; an' there was nothin' in sight when I closed 'em."
"Get out the lead-line while I see if Joe is hurt very much."
The steam was yet pouring from the engine-room in such volumes as to prevent a view from either side, and Jim groped his way to the brig, Walter following close at his heels like one dazed. Master Libby remembered having seen the lead-line under the port rail forward, and but a short search was necessary to find it. Fully expecting they were yet in deep water, he reeled off twenty fathoms or more before casting, and to his surprise the greater portion remained on the rail instead of slipping through his fingers.
"Why, we're--we're on a shoal!" he stammered as he pulled in the cord until the weight could be felt. "There isn't much more than two fathoms out."
"An' as the brig don't draw less'n fourteen or fifteen feet, we can count on your havin' slept pretty nigh through the whole watch!" Bob said sharply.
Jim made no reply. He realized now that his eyes must have been closed many minutes instead of one, and was well aware that all which had happened was the result of his own carelessness.
"I'm in for it now," he whispered disconsolately to Walter. "Even if Bob don't use up a rope's end on my back I'll know that by goin' to sleep I've shut off our chances of gettin' home."
"I must be just as much to blame as you," Walter replied, in a trembling voice. "My business was to stand watch, and the very first thing I did was to go to sleep."
"But I had the helm, you see, an' oughter kept the sharpest lookout. I wish Bob would turn to an' give me the worst whalin' I ever got, 'cause it seems as if it might make me feel better."
"Can't we get the brig off somehow?" Walter asked with a sob.
"Seein's how the crew's so slim it don't seem very likely, an' everybody will say I cast 'em away when we was sure of gettin' home."
"They'll have to say the same of me," Walter added, as if this thought might give his companion some consolation. "Let's go an' have it out right away."
With clasped hands the two boys walked aft, fully expecting to receive a terrible punishment for their almost criminal carelessness; but no blows, however severe, could have caused as much pain as was already in their hearts.
Time was too precious just then for the old sailor to spend any with the authors of this last trouble, even had he been so disposed. Matters in the engine-room required immediate attention, and Joe was ready to venture amid the scalding vapor once more; therefore he followed, to render all possible assistance.
