ASHORE.
The rain, which was now falling in torrents, the driving surf, and the pitching of the steamer, all served to make it difficult to keep one's footing on the slippery planks, and Jim motioned his companions to follow him into the pilot-house, for now that the hawser had been swallowed up by the waves their services were no longer required outside.
"Stay on deck!" Bob cried, as he saw them moving away, and forced to shout at the full strength of his lungs in order to make himself heard above the roar of the tempest. "In case she strikes you must be where there's a chance of savin' your lives. Get under the lee of the house for'ard, an' hold on for all you're worth!"
After some considerable difficulty the boys succeeded, by working along the life-lines, in reaching the bow, where, partially protected by the pilot-house, it was possible to remain in comparative shelter.
"Do you think the tug will be wrecked, Jim?" Harry asked.
"I reckon she'll drive ashore."
"Then we shall be no better off than if we hadn't found the pirates' gold, for of course it'll all be lost."
"Not unless she goes to pieces!" Jim replied in a decidedly shaky voice; and then, as if this subject was an unpleasant one, he changed it by asking, without any idea the question would be answered:
"What's Bob doin' aft so long? He can't expect to pick up that hawser ag'in, an' it's more dangerous there than here!"
"He's coming now," Walter replied as he crept to the corner of the house; and at the same instant that a huge wave rolled inboard, sweeping the decks with almost irresistible violence, the old sailor and Joe appeared, literally working their way hand over hand by means of the life-line.
Arriving under the lee of the pilot-house they halted, and waited in silence for the shock which should tell that the Sea Bird had been forced into shoal water.
This unpleasant information was not long delayed. The little steamer pitched and plunged more violently than before, but without the sickening motion of being dragged under, which was apparent when the bow anchor held, and after ten minutes of this wild tossing she lurched forward suddenly as if the screw had been set in motion.
"Hold on for your lives!" Bob shouted, and a moment later the tug struck heavily, with such force that but for the timely warning more than one of the crew would have been hurled forward.
All hands waited with bated breath for the succeeding shocks which would tell that she was pounding herself to pieces on the sand; but much to their surprise nothing of the kind was felt.
"The stern anchor is holding her down!" Bob shouted to Joe, and the words were hardly spoken when the water dashed forward, flooding the decks even with the rail.
"We'll be drowned here in short order!" Joe cried as he struggled toward the boys. "Get into the pilot-house, if you can, for the danger is less there while the decks are being swept!"
Fortunately for all hands the door opened at the top of a short flight of stairs above the level of the rail, and this the engineer succeeded in opening by watching his opportunity between the heavy waves. Harry and Walter gained this shelter before the sea rushed forward again, and at the next interval of comparative quiet the remainder of the party joined them.
It was now possible to converse without actually shouting, and Joe was eager to understand why the tug remained immovable when in the ordinary course of events she should be beating herself to pieces on the shoal.
"The anchor slipped enough to let her drive ahead a bit," Bob said, in explanation, "an' then brought up just as she struck. You'll most likely find the hawser taut as an iron bar; and that, together with the hold the sand has got on her nose, keeps everything firm."
"And if the anchor should give way once more she'd break up?"
"There's no doubt about that; but I've got an idee the wind hasn't got as much force as it had half an hour ago. If the timbers will stand that poundin' astern there's a chance of our gettin' outer this scrape after all, even though things do look so tough."
