"Yes; the fog is heaviest off to westward, and we"ve been working out of that."
"By the time we reach the "Glide" I believe we"re going to have some open weather around us."
"It will be fine if we do," nodded young Dawson. "It"s nasty work going up alongside of a big ship when you can"t see fifty feet away."
As they watched and waited, while the "Restless" stole slowly along, the fog about them became steadily lighter, though off to the westward it remained a thick, dense bank.
"Say, it"d be great to have four or five miles of clear sea around us, so that we could see whether the seventy-foot boat has kept to anything like our course," declared Hank.
At last the "Restless" came to within twenty minutes" hailing distance of the "Glide," as the young motor boat skipper figured it. Then, a few minutes later, a deep-toned fog-horn came to them faintly. As the minutes pa.s.sed, now, this blast became heavier and nearer.
"I"ve only a few minutes left with you, Joe, old chum," declared Captain Tom, with a half-sigh. "You"ll take great, good care of the dear old craft, I know, while I"m gone."
"As soon as Mr. Seaton is done with the boat I"ll tie her up until you get back--that"s what I"ll do," grunted Dawson. "No sailing without a skipper for me."
"You needn"t look so bad about it, Cap," grinned Hepton. "I wish it was me, cut out for a long trip to Rio and back. Maybe I wouldn"t jump at such a chance. Some folks are born lucky!"
Too-woo-oo!
The oncoming steamship"s deep fog-horn sounded loud and sullen, now.
Tom Halstead, still at the wheel, was peering constantly forward for the first glimpse of the freighter, for the fog had lightened much by this time.
"There she is!" hailed keen-eyed Joe, on the lookout for this sight.
"You can just make out her bow poking up through the fog. She must be a thousand feet off yet."
With two boats approaching each other, this distance was, of course, quickly covered. Finding that he could see the other craft at such a distance, Skipper Tom threw on a little more speed, making a wide turn and so coming up alongside on a parallel course.
"Take the wheel, Hank," directed the young skipper, seizing the megaphone and stepping to the port rail.
""Glide," ahoy!" bawled Halstead through the megaphone.
""Restless," ahoy!" came back from the freighter"s bridge.
"Lie to and let us come alongside, won"t you? We want to put a pa.s.senger aboard."
"Pa.s.senger? Where for?"
"Rio, of course. That"s where you"re bound, isn"t it?"
"You"ll have to be mighty quick about it," came the emphatic answer.
"We can"t afford stops on our way."
"We may want to delay you a few minutes," began Tom.
"Few minutes, nothing!" came the gruff retort. "We can"t be held up in that fashion."
"We can pay for all the trouble we put you to," retorted Halstead.
Powell Seaton produced and waved a bulky wad of banknotes.
"Oh, if you want to pay extra, above the fare, it"ll be a little different," came, in mollified tones, from the bridge. The captain of the "Glide" was now much more accommodating. The fare received from a pa.s.senger put aboard in mid-sea would go to the owners of the freighter. But any extra money, paid for "trouble," would be so much in the pocket of the "Glide"s" sailing-master.
Several new faces appeared at the rail of the freighter, as that big craft slowed down and one of her mates superintended the work of lowering the side gangway.
"Hullo, lobster-smack!" roared one derisive voice above the freighter"s rail.
"Say," called another voice, jeeringly, "it may be all right to go lobster-fishing, but it"s no sort of good business to leave one of your catch of lobsters in command of even a smack like that!"
Tom Halstead reddened angrily. One of his fists clenched unconsciously as he shot a wrathful look upward at the rail.
"Say, you mentally-dented pilot of a fourth-rate peanut roaster of a boat, do you go by craft you know without ever giving a hail?"
demanded a mocking voice, that of the first derisive speaker.
Standing at the rail of the "Restless," Tom Halstead almost dropped the megaphone overboard from the sheer stagger of joy that caught him.
"Hey, you Ab! You worthless Ab Perkins!" roared the young motor boat skipper, in huge delight. "And you, d.i.c.k Davis!"
The two who stood at the "Glide"s" rail overhead, and who had called down so mockingly, stood in uniform caps and coats identical with those worn by Halstead and his mates aboard the motor boat. They wore them with right, too, for Perkins and Davis were two of the most famous of the many youngsters who now composed the Motor Boat Club of the Kennebec.
"Hey! What"s this?" roared the usually quiet Joe Dawson, his face wreathed in smiles. He almost danced a jig.
Hank b.u.t.ts had never before seen either Davis or Perkins, but he knew about them, all right. He knew that uniform, too, the same that he wore.
"Now, then--altogether!" yelled Hank. "Give it with a roar, boys!"
Powell Seaton stared in bewildered amazement. So did officers, crew and others at the "Glide"s" rail and on her bridge.
For five l.u.s.ty young Americans, all wearing the same uniform, all bronzed deeply with the tan that comes of the gale and the sun, all keen-eyed, quick and sure as tars ever are, roared in mighty chorus:
"M-B-C-K! M-B-C-K! Motor Boat Club! WOW!"
CHAPTER XVIII
THE FIRST KINK OF THE PROBLEM SOLVED
Again the roaring chorus rang out.
"What"s this? College boys" joke on me, or a floating mad-house?"
huskily roared down the freighter"s captain from the bridge.
"It"s all right, captain," sang back Tom Halstead. "We"ll make it plain to you as soon as we get a chance. We"re neither as bad nor as dangerous as we seem."
The "Glide"s" headway had all but ceased by this time, and the side gangway was at last in place. The "Restless" was run in close, while Hank stood up on the top of the forward deck-house with a coil of line, waiting until it came time to leap across onto the platform of the freighter"s gangway and make the line fast.
As quickly as the line was secured Captain Tom Halstead followed b.u.t.ts, and dashed on past him up the steps of the gangway. Ab and d.i.c.k came down to meet him, each grabbing one of the young skipper"s hands and wringing it.