"Think that can be the place?" asked Herb, still watching him closely.
"I believe it is, yes, and hope so, too," came the reply, together with a significant glance upward to where the clouds were beginning to shut out the sun, now on its way down the western sky.
"I see you"re edging in more?" Herb continued.
"That"s right," answered Jack; "we"d better be as near land as we dare go. It may mean a heap to us sooner or later."
They went on for some time, with things seeming to be no different, only the clouds kept covering the sky, making the water look dark and forbidding. Indeed, all of the boys were now considerably alarmed. The storm seemed to be getting closer, and their haven had not as yet hove in sight.
"That"s because we"re coming down from the north," explained Jack, when Nick called out to mention this distressing fact. "You see, the trees all run together, and it"s next to impossible to tell where the mainland ends off and the key begins. But I think I get the dividing line through the gla.s.ses. Anyhow, I"m heading straight for it right now."
Ten minutes later and Josh called out, to say that he could see the opening all right; and the others added their evidence to what he said.
"There"s the new breeze coming, Jack!" called Herb.
"Yes, and the harbor is so close too," George put in, as he arose from his lowly position. "But I reckon my engine will go now, Jack. If you hear her crackle, please cast off that hawser, will you?"
"Sure!" sang out Jimmy, as he climbed forward, Jack having taken the wheel himself some little time previous, so as to be prepared for any emergency that might arise.
A moment later and there was a merry popping from the mended motor of the _Wireless_, and immediately Jimmy heard this he cast the rope loose.
"Better make a plunge for it, George; I"ll stand by Herb!" sang out Jack.
"But that wouldn"t look right," objected George, though doubtless he would feel better satisfied if given a chance to make use of the great speed his boat could show under special conditions, in order to get in a harbor before the blow struck them.
"Rats! get along with you. We understand what your feelings are; but we also know what a cranky boat you"ve got. Hit her up now, and skedaddle!"
called Jack.
"Are you saying that as a chum, or as the commodore of the fleet?" asked George.
"As the commodore; and see to it that you obey orders," answered the other.
Accordingly, George did put his motor to its best speed, and rapidly left them in the lurch. Jack would never desert the steady going old _Comfort_, and that wide-beamed craft was already working her full limit of nine miles to the hour, so nothing could be done but keep moving, and hope for the best.
The wind increased. Luckily it was dead ahead; and while it might r.e.t.a.r.d their progress to some extent, at the same time it did not kick up half the tremendous sea that would have been the case had it come from the wide ocean at their back, or the port side.
"Do ye be thinking we can make it?" asked Jimmy, who looked a little peaked as he squatted there, watching the tumbling waves, and eying wistfully the sh.o.r.es now close at hand, where houses were to be seen.
"I don"t doubt it for a minute," answered the resolute skipper of the _Tramp_, who always refused to be downcast when face to face with danger. "We"re hitting up a pretty fair pace, and if nothing happens to prevent, in ten minutes we"ll begin to get the benefit of the shelter of the land."
"Anyhow, George has gone through the opening," declared Jimmy, hopefully.
"Why, yes, there he is beyant, and in calm water; I do believe he"s waiting for us right now. Bully for George! And we ought to be with him soon."
Although the storm increased, they were by now so well in that it had little terror for them. And presently they ran into calmer waters, where the other boat waited for their coming.
After that it did not take the boys long to pick out a nook where they could be sheltered to a great extent from the blow. And here they anch.o.r.ed, very thankful because of their safe arrival near Miami, after making such a record run outside, where their boats looked like tiny chips on the wide, heaving sea.
All of them were tired, and welcomed the coming of night, when they could partake of supper, and perhaps gather around a camp-fire ash.o.r.e.
Jack had seen that there were quite a number of other boats of all kinds scattered around the bay. Some were anch.o.r.ed off cottages, while others scudded for the home port before the storm increased to violent proportions. Although the time for West India hurricanes was long since past, any blow along the coast may mean peril to small craft, and they considered it safer to get into shelter before the worst came.
Jack was doing some little work aboard the _Tramp_ when a boat sc.r.a.ped alongside.
"h.e.l.lo!" he exclaimed, as George climbed aboard; "what brings you over here?"
"Let me have your gla.s.ses, won"t you, Jack?" asked the other, mysteriously.
"That sounds mighty like you thought you had made some discovery, George. Say, three to one it"s about that power boat that is a ringer for the _Tramp_?"
"Go up head, Jack, because you"ve guessed it the first clat out of the box. Good for you! Now I"ll satisfy my mind about one thing, and find out whether they are watching us every time we happen to run together."
"So that"s the boat anch.o.r.ed away over yonder, is it?" Jack mused. "For all we know it may belong to the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, and be at home right now."
"Huh! just as I thought," grunted George.
"What"s that?" demanded the other.
"There"s a feller sitting on deck right now, and I"ll be hanged if he hasn"t got a pair of marine gla.s.ses in his hands, leveled straight at us. Didn"t I tell you, Jack, there"s something mysterious about that boat? They are keeping tabs on us right along. Perhaps they"re down here to follow us, though what for I declare if I can guess. There, I guess he saw I had a pair of gla.s.ses leveled at him, for he dodged inside the cabin like a flash. Jack, whatever can it mean?"
"You"ve got me guessing, George, and I"ll have to pa.s.s," laughed the other, although admitting to himself that the circ.u.mstances were beginning to savor more of mystery than up to now he had been willing to acknowledge.
CHAPTER VI.
NICK TRIES AGAIN.
"Jimmy, strike up a bar of "Nancy Lee," or the "Larboard Watch," while we"re moving at this snail"s pace along this shallow sh.o.r.e, looking for some nice place to camp."
"That"s right, Jimmy, just as Jack says; it would sound right to hear music, for this is by a long shot the dreariest place we"ve struck yet.
Tune up your lyre, then, or your banjo--I don"t care which--and give us a song."
Accordingly, when thus pressed by the skipper, not only of his own boat but Herb as well, Jimmy reached in the cabin, and taking hold of his never far distant banjo, commenced to plunk away.
He had a fine mellow voice, and the rest of the boys never tired of hearing him sing. All of them joined in the chorus, though Josh squeaked so that he would have killed the whole melody, only that the volume of sound was so great the discordant vein could not easily be detected.
The three motor boats were almost drifting along among the many keys bordering the extreme southern sh.o.r.e of Florida; and the time was just three days after we saw them reach the vicinity of Miami.
They had pa.s.sed from Cards Sound into Barnes Sound, and marveled at the wonderful construction of the concrete railway arches, by means of which the East Coast Line expected in the near future to reach far distant Key West, pa.s.sing from key to key the entire distance, often over wide stretches of open sea.
Cape Sable lay not a great distance ahead. Once the little flotilla had rounded this tip end of the peninsula, they would begin their northward voyage.
The prospect for a camp ash.o.r.e did not look any too brilliant, and as the afternoon waned, even sanguine Jack began to despair of finding any solid ground. In all directions could be seen the interminable mangrove islands, where swamp abounded, and landing was next to absurd.
When the wash of the sea proved too heavy they had managed to keep some key between, and thus far had come on without any accident. Even George"s eccentric motor had been upon its best behavior, but none of them placed much reliance upon it any longer.