"The bowman"s duty now became more arduous. With knitted brows and compressed lips he stood, every nerve and muscle strung for instant action. The steersman watched his movements with intense earnestness, in order to second them promptly. Ever and anon the stout pole was plunged into the flood, first on one side, then on the other; the two guides acted as if they had been one man, and the obedient craft sprang from surge to surge in safety. Suddenly the bowman uttered a loud shout, as the pole jammed between two rocks, and was wrenched from his grasp.
""Another! another vite! vite!"
"One of the crew thrust a fresh pole into his hand. Plunging it into the water, he exerted his giant strength with such violence as nearly to upset the boat, but it was too late. The planks crashed like an egg-sh.e.l.l as the boat dashed upon the rock, and the water began to rush in, while the stern was swept round, and the blade of the steering oar was smashed to atoms. Almost before we had time to think we were swept down, stern foremost, and floated safely into an eddy at the foot of the rapids. A few strokes of the oars brought us to the land; but, short although the interval was between our striking the rock and running ash.o.r.e, it was sufficient to half-fill the boat with water.
"The danger was barely past, and the intense feeling of it was still strong upon my mind, yet these lighthearted _voyageurs_ were jesting and laughing loudly as they tossed the packs of furs out of the water-logged boat; so little did they realize the imminence of the peril from which they had been delivered.
"The remainder of that day was spent in drying the furs that had been wetted, and in repairing the damaged boat. Afterwards we continued our voyage, which, without further accident, terminated at length on the sh.o.r.es of Hudson"s Bay."
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PURSUIT.
The morning of the third day was an epoch in the lives of the pa.s.sengers on board the Storm King, for a pa.s.sing vessel was signaled. It hove to, and the captain quite willingly accepted as pa.s.sengers to his next port of call, San Francisco, the Senor and his daughter.
It is needless to say that Jim gazed long and intently after the Lotus which bore away the Senorita and her father, and equally long and intently, although Jim did not know it, did the young lady watch the Storm King until it had become but a speck on the horizon.
For several hours Jim was seen no more on deck, and many a merry quip was bandied at his expense. What Jim was doing will appear later.
"It is certainly out of the ordinary," admitted Becket. He had just come aft to where the professor was consulting with Jo and Tom. They had been discussing the action of the Marjorie, the ship which had taken its departure from San Francisco on the same day and very hour that they had sailed, and which had again been sighted when they left San Matteo. She was trailing about a mile astern of them, and here it was the third day since they had sailed.
"She has been following us right along," observed Tom. "Do you think she is going the same way we are?"
"A man might be justified in thinking so," replied Berwick, dryly.
"I mean," corrected Tom, "to the island?"
"I don"t know what to think," admitted the professor, "but I don"t like it somehow."
"It is queer," reiterated the engineer.
"Let us run away from him," suggested Jim, who now joined them.
"I have tried to outsail him, but it"s no use," returned the captain.
"She is burning up the coal, yet only traveling as fast as we do under sail."
"Suppose we try again and see if she is really following us."
"Let us radically change our course, captain, and see if they follow us," said the professor.
"That isn"t a bad idea," agreed the captain. "It won"t do any harm to try it. We will have her head put due west. I see that we are running about S. S. W. now. If they change their course it will be pretty conclusive evidence that it is purpose and not chance that keeps them in our wake."
"Mr. Berwick," said the professor, "the wind is light and fitful, suppose we add steam to our propelling force. Give us all the speed you can, and we will see if we can"t shake them off."
"All right, sir," replied the engineer, going toward the engine room. "I will do my very best to get all the speed there is in her."
An hour later the throbbing of the engine, as the pressure was gradually increased, was felt throughout the vessel. Like a spirited steed with a bit in her teeth, and at the snap of the whip the vessel darted forward, plunging through the long rolling waves, and leaving behind her a white wake that curved like a bow as her prow was turned to the west.
The group on the after deck of the Storm King watched with interest the course of the other vessel, which was now being rapidly distanced, would pursue.
"Hurrah!" cried Tom. "We are leaving her behind."
"But she is getting up more steam," observed Jo, as a thickening volume of smoke poured from her funnel.
"She is following us, too," cried Tom a little later. "She evidently likes company."
It was evident from the change in her course that the Marjorie was bent on keeping near the Storm King.
"She is just like some people," went on Tom. "She doesn"t wait for an invitation, she is coming along, too."
The Storm King, under a full head of steam was rolling off the knots, and increasing the distance from the Marjorie.
"If we can keep this up," said Tom, joyfully, "she will soon be hull down."
"If we had a n.i.g.g.e.r to put on the safety valve," said the professor.
"A n.i.g.g.e.r on the safety valve," questioned Tom, "I don"t understand."
"Why they say that on the Mississippi river when they have a race on, they put a negro on the safety valve to keep it down when the pressure gets so high as to blow it off at the regular set weight."
"But that must be dangerous," objected Tom.
"Of course, it is," laughed the professor, "but n.o.body cared for danger where there was a race on."
But in the meantime the Marjorie was once more picking up the distance and growing more distinct. For three or more hours the race went on, but the Marjorie regained and then maintained her relative distance, and the professor reluctantly directed the captain to slow down.
"It is no use," he said. "We cannot shake her off that way. We might as well resume our regular course."
The following morning the same conditions were found to prevail. The distance between the boats seemingly never changed.
"She is a good boat and jolly well sailed, don"t you know," remarked the mate, who was a typical English sailor.
"What is that flag for?" asked Tom suddenly.
"What flag is that?" asked the captain in return.
"Why, that one there," replied Tom, pointing to a square of red bunting flying from a davit of their own ship.
"That," laughed the captain. "Well, you ought to know better than I do."
"Why?" asked Tom.
"Really," said the captain, "didn"t some of you boys put it there?"
"Why, of course not," disclaimed Tom. "I thought maybe it was some kind of a signal."