"What I don"t like about it," remarked Josh, "is the sharks."
"Oh! I see you have been reading about it, then," said Jack, quickly.
"I didn"t mean to say anything about those monsters."
"Then there are sharks around?" demanded George; while Nick turned a little pale as he leaned over the side of the speed boat and listened.
"Yes; all accounts agree on that score," Jack admitted. "But if we manage right, and take the inlet at the proper time, there"s no reason why any of us should bother our heads about the scaly pirates of the sea."
"I only hope none of "em b.u.t.t up against the _Wireless_, that"s all,"
grunted the skipper of the narrow boat.
"Gracious! do you think there"s any chance of that?" asked Nick, looking as though he half felt like begging Herb to take him aboard at the crucial time, only that he hated to show the white feather.
"Oh! hardly," laughed Jack, desirous of cheering the other up.
"Still, it might be wise for Nick to keep under cover while we"re making that same pa.s.sage across," suggested Josh, wickedly.
"And just why me, any more than you?" demanded the fat boy, indignantly.
"Well, the sight of such a bag of bones as me wouldn"t be apt to stir those man-eaters up to any extent; but if they caught a glimpse of such a rolypoly morsel as you, Nick, it would set "em wild."
"Oh! let up, won"t you?" grumbled Nick. "This is too serious a subject to make fun over. I don"t just hanker to make a dinner for any old shark, and don"t you forget it, Josh Purdue."
They crossed the inlet at Chincoteague without the slightest trouble.
Beyond lay Wallop"s Island, and their speed had to be considerably reduced while navigating the tortuous and narrow channel lying between that body of reedy land and the main sh.o.r.e.
Despite the wideawake work of the pilot in the _Tramp_, there was always a liability of some boat charging upon an unseen mudbank; and hence it was advisable to take things rather easy, so that in case of such a disaster, it would be possible to pull off again, with the help of the other boats.
Then came the next inlet, which was also crossed easily.
"Say, nothing hard about this," George called out, as they headed once more down the bay toward Gargathy Inlet.
"Lots of things look harder than they turn out to be," answered Herb, who was having it easy enough in his wide-beamed craft.
"Still, be on your guard all the time," cautioned Jack, who meant to keep near the erratic _Wireless_ all the time, because he felt it in his bones that if any accident did happen it would be in that quarter.
At noon they drew up and went ash.o.r.e on a sandspit, where they ate lunch. Nick of course "browsed" around, as he called it, in search of oysters, and was speedily rewarded by discovering a supply. Indeed, they had hard work making him break away, when Jack tooted his conch sh.e.l.l as the signal for a start.
Matomkin Inlet proved as easy as the others.
"Now for the terror!" remarked George, as later in the afternoon they approached the spot where Watchapreague lay.
Ahead they could see the whitecaps marking the fierce cross currents that have given this half-mile wide inlet its bad name. Many a wreck of sh.o.r.e boats has taken place here, and lives been lost.
"We might as well get over now, as in the morning, for the tide is as good as it will ever be. Those whitecaps are caused by the wind blowing from the sh.o.r.e, and the tide coming in," Jack decided, as they advanced steadily on.
"And in case of any accident, then, a fellow couldn"t be carried out to sea," George remarked, with what seemed like a distinct look of relief.
So the start was made. All around them the water fairly boiled, and unseen influences apparently tugged at the frail little craft, as though the fingers of those fabled monsters were gripping their keels.
They were just about the middle and most dangerous spot when George gave a sudden cry. It was echoed by a wail from Nick. Looking up, Jack discovered a sight that thrilled him to the core. The erratic _Wireless_ had chosen to play its skipper a nasty trick at just the time it should have been on its best behavior, coming to a stop with such abruptness that poor Nick lost his hold forward, and went splashing into the water like a giant frog!
CHAPTER XI.
A STUNNING DISCOVERY.
In an instant all was confusion!
All sorts of shouts broke from the boys; and George, leaning over the side of his stalled _Wireless_, in the vain hope of being able to clutch the boy who was in the dangerous waters of the inlet, came near upsetting his tottering boat completely.
Nick had disappeared as soon as he struck the water, but such a fat fellow could not long remain under the surface, so he speedily made his appearance, struggling terribly, and looking badly frightened.
There had been a time when Nick could not swim a stroke; but, by keeping heroically at it, he had managed to master the art to some extent. Desperation a.s.sisted him in this predicament, and the way he threshed the water was a caution. Herb afterwards declared it beat any old stern-wheel towboat he had ever seen, charging up the current of the mighty Mississippi.
Luckily enough, Jack had antic.i.p.ated something of this sort. That was why he had persisted in keeping as close to the speed boat as he dared, without risking a collision. He later on said he felt it in his bones that if the _Wireless_ had one more kink of evil in her, she was just bound to let it out at the most critical moment. And it had proven just so.
The first thing Jack did when he saw the head and wildly plunging arms of his fat chum appear, was to hurl the life preserver he had s.n.a.t.c.hed up from the spot where he kept it handy.
And so well aimed was the cork buoy that it fell just in front of the struggling Nick, who gave a half-strangled whoop, doubtless under the impression that it was a shark, or perhaps one of those same mermaids he had declared it his ambition to meet face to face.
"Grab hold of it, Nick!" shouted George, excitedly.
"It"s a life preserver. Get a grip on it, Nick!" bellowed Jack, as he gradually turned the nose of the _Tramp_ around, meaning to bear down upon the imperiled boy.
Luckily Nick heard what they said, for he was seen to make a wild clutch for the floating buoy, and catch hold of it before the treacherous swirls carried it beyond his reach.
"Oh! look there!" shrieked Jimmy. "That must be the fin of a shark!"
It was.
And further along Jack even caught sight of several more. The fierce creatures had heard the splash, and apparently scenting a fine dinner, were dashing this way and that, bent upon finding the object that had made all the rumpus.
"George, get your gun, and be ready to shoot!" said Jack, himself pale now with sudden anxiety.
So the skipper of the _Wireless_, understanding that this was a time to keep cool if they would save their cheery comrade, reached down under the side of his boat. When he bobbed up a few seconds later he was clutching his rifle, which he had brought along, in the faint hope that before the long cruise was done he might get a deer, or even a bear, with it.
Now the nose of the _Tramp_ was heading straight for the spot where Nick clung to the life buoy.
"Splash as hard as you can!" shrilled Josh, who seemed to remember that sharks can sometimes be kept away by this means.
And immediately the fat boy exerted himself at a great rate, his legs and one arm beating the water until it sounded like a vast mill in action.
But as Jack cast a swift glance around he saw that the nearest shark was heading straight toward poor Nick. Jimmy had heard what was said to George. He, too, had pulled out a shotgun, and was cowering close by, holding the weapon in his hands, and with a grim look of "do or die" on his freckled face.
Bang! went the rifle in George"s hands.