Nellie and her mother occupied the same room. Of course the mother had been told that the long delayed boat had been sighted, and now, how anxiously she awaited more news of Nellie"s father.
"We must not worry," she told Nellie, "for who knows but the storm may really help father"s boat to get into port?"
So, while the waves lashed furiously upon Sunset Beach, all the people in the Minturn cottage were sleeping, or trying to sleep, for, indeed, it was not easy to rest when there was so much danger at their very door.
CHAPTER XIX
LIFE-SAVERS
"Mother, mother!" called Nellie, "look down at the beach. The life-guards are burning the red signal lights! They have found a wreck!"
It was almost morning, but the black storm clouds held the daylight back. Mrs. McLaughlin and her little daughter strained their eyes to see, if possible, what might be going on down at the beach. While there was no noise to give the alarm, it seemed, almost everybody in that house felt the presence of the wreck, for in a very few minutes, Bert was at his window, Dorothy and Nan were looking out of theirs, while the older members of the household were dressing hastily, to see if they might be of any help in case of accident at the beach.
"Can I go with you, Uncle?" called Bert, who had heard his uncle getting ready to run down to the water"s edge.
"Yes, come along," answered Mr. Minturn, and as day began to peep through the heavy clouds, the two hurried down to the spot where the life-guards were burning their red light to tell the sailors their signal had been seen.
"There"s the vessel!" exclaimed Bert, as a rocket flew up from the water.
"Yes, that"s the distress signal," replied the uncle. "It is lucky that daylight is almost here."
Numbers of other cottagers were hurrying to the scene now, Mr. Bingham and Hal being among the first to reach the spot.
"It"s a schooner," said Mr. Bingham to Mr. Minturn, "and she has a very heavy cargo."
The sea was so wild it was impossible to send out the life-savers"
boats, so the guards were making ready the breeches buoy.
"They are going to shoot the line out now," explained Hal to Bert, as the two-wheel car with the mortar or cannon was dragged down to the ocean"s edge.
Instantly there shot out to sea a ball of thin cord. To this cord was fastened a heavy rope or cable.
"They"ve got it on the schooner." exclaimed a man, for the thin cord was now pulling the cable line out, over the water.
"What"s that board for?" asked Bert, as he saw a board following the cable.
"That"s the directions," said Hal.
"They are printed in a number of languages, and they tell the crew to carry the end of the cable high up the mast and fasten it strongly there."
"Oh, I see," said Bert, "the line will stretch then, and the breeches buoy will go out on a pulley."
"That"s it," replied Hal. "See, there goes the buoy," and then the queer-looking life-preserver made of cork, and shaped like breeches, swung out over the waves.
It was clear day now, and much of the wicked storm had pa.s.sed. Its effect upon the sea was, however, more furious every hour, for while the storm had left the land, it was raging somewhere else, and the sensitive sea felt every throb of the excited elements.
With the daylight came girls and women to the beach.
Mrs. Bobbsey, Mrs. Minturn, Nellie and her mother, besides Dorothy and Nan, were all there; Flossie and Freddie being obliged to stay home with Dinah and Susan.
Of course the girls asked all sorts of questions and Bert and Hal tried to answer them as best they could.
It seemed a long time before any movement of the cable showed that the buoy was returning.
"Here she comes! Here she comes!" called the crowd presently, as the black speck far out, and the strain on the cord, showed the buoy was coming back.
Up and down in the waves it bobbed, sometimes seeming to go all the way under. Nearer and nearer it came, until now a man"s head could be seen.
"There"s a man in it!" exclaimed the boys, all excitement, while the life-guards pulled the cord steadily, dragging in their human freight.
The girls and women were too frightened to talk, and Nellie clung close to her mother.
A big roller dashing in finished the work for the life-guards, and a man in the cork belt bounded upon sh.o.r.e.
He was quite breathless when the guards reached him, but insisted on walking up instead of being carried. Soon he recovered himself and the rubber protector was pulled off his face.
Everybody gathered around, and Nellie with a strange face, and a stranger hope, broke through the crowd to see the rescued man.
"Oh--it is--_my_--_father_!" she screamed, falling right into the arms of the drenched man.
"Be careful," called Mr. Minturn, fearing the child might be mistaken, or Mrs. McLaughlin might receive too severe a shock from the surprise.
But the half-drowned man rubbed his eyes as if he could not believe them, then the next minute he pressed his little daughter to his heart, unable to speak a word.
What a wonderful scene it was!
The child almost unconscious in her father"s arms, he almost dead from exhaustion, and the wife and mother too overcome to trust herself to believe it could be true.
Even the guards, who were busy again at the ropes, having left the man to willing hands on the beach, could not hide their surprise over the fact that it was mother, father, and daughter there united under such strange conditions.
"My darling, my darling!" exclaimed the sailor to Nellie, as he raised himself and then he saw his wife.
Mrs. Bobbsey had been holding Mrs. McLaughlin back, but now the sailor was quite recovered, so they allowed her to speak to him.
Mr. Bingham and Hal had been watching it all, anxiously.
"Are you McLaughlin?" suddenly asked Mr. Bingham.
"I am," replied the sailor.
"And is George Bingham out there?" anxiously asked the brother.
"Safe and well," came the welcome answer. "Just waiting for his turn to come in."