He pushed on unfalteringly. Glancing from time to time over his shoulder, Tobias saw that the occupant of the stalled motor-boat had sunk down in her c.o.c.kpit. He seemed to have lost his steering oar, and the craft was being tossed whithersoever the sea would.
"The poor fish!" growled Tobias. "He"s likely to find a watery grave after all. Must be something the matter with him."
As the dory drew nearer the lightkeeper saw a pallid face staring at him over the gunnel of the motor-boat. The boat had shipped considerable water and was wallowing deep in the sea; but the man seemed unable even to bail out.
"Crippled-must be," decided the rescuer, at last. "I"d better get to him soon, or he"ll lose all holts."
Despite the boisterous seas the lightkeeper brought his dory skilfully alongside the tossing motor-boat. The wan face of the young fellow in it advertised his woe.
"What"s the matter with ye?" bawled Tobias.
"I"ve hurt my foot!" replied the man. "I guess I"ve sprained it."
"Oh, sugar! That might ha" kept ye from walking ash.o.r.e. But what"s the matter with your boat?"
"The engine won"t run, and the steering-gear is fouled. I haven"t been able to do a thing with it since daybreak."
"Hard luck!" returned Tobias. "Better come aboard here. Can ye make it alone?"
"Can"t you tow me? I don"t want to lose my boat. It cost a lot of money."
"Likely. But I ain"t no sea-going towboat," said the lightkeeper. "If I undertook to try to tow your boat, we"d bring up about to the Bahamas.
You"ll have to kiss it good-bye, I cal"late."
"I"ll pay you well," cried the other.
"Can"t be did," said Tobias confidently. "Now, then, when I throw her to ye, be ready to crawl over the gunnels. We ain"t got no time to jabber. Stand by!"
Seeing that the old man was firm in his intention, the castaway prepared awkwardly to make the exchange. He was doused between the two boats, but Tobias Ba.s.sett"s strong hand helped him inboard, or a tragedy might have been enacted. The castaway was a man in the early twenties, and not at all robust looking. Nor did his countenance very favorably impress the rescuer.
"Still, ye can"t scurcely judge the good points of a drowned rat,"
Tobias considered, as the man he had rescued squatted in the stern of the dory, nursing his right foot and groaning.
"Tell me all about it," the rescuer suggested. "How did it happen?"
"I left Nantucket yesterday noon, going to Boston."
"All the weather-wise folks on Nantucket must be dead, eh? Or didn"t n.o.body tell ye to take the inside pa.s.sage?"
"Well, I thought I could make it outside before it blew really hard.
And I could have done so, only for that engine."
"I see."
"Then I fell and twisted my foot. It"s swollen, you see. Can"t put my weight on it."
"Too bad," grunted the lightkeeper between strokes. "And you been battin" off and on here all night?"
"Pretty near."
"Lucky I spied ye. It"s going to blow harder before it gets through.
You didn"t stand much chance of being picked up by any other craft, so far insh.o.r.e."
"I hate to lose my boat," complained the castaway.
"You like to have lost your life, young feller," said Tobias, seriously.
"You can get another motorboat easier. What"s your name?"
"Conway Degger. I belong in Boston."
"Do ye, now? Come o" rich folks, I cal"late?"
"Not rich enough to throw away a motor-boat like that."
"Oh, sugar! I s"pose not. If the wind shifts she may come ash.o.r.e."
"She"ll be smashed up."
"Mebbe not past mending," said Tobias, trying to be comforting.
"Anyhow, you be glad, young feller, that ye got out of it as slick as ye did."
"I don"t want you to think I"m ungrateful," groaned Degger, caressing his bruised foot. "But motor-boats don"t grow on bushes."
"Never thought they did. Or I should try if one o" them bushes would grow in Heppy"s garden," chuckled the lightkeeper.
It was a long and hard pull to make the lighthouse landing. It was near noon, and Tobias had rowed steadily for four hours, when the dory grounded upon the sands with the surf roaring over the reefs between which he had skilfully steered.
"Wal, we made it, didn"t we?" sighed the lightkeeper, with a measure of sarcasm quite lost upon Mr. Degger. "One spell I didn"t know as we would-you bein" crippled and helpless like you be."
"I am a thousand times obliged to you, Skipper," said Degger, quite warmly, as he cautiously stood on one foot like a sandhill crane. "I don"t know how to thank you."
"No, I see ye don"t," observed Tobias. "But ne"er mind. I got an attic full of "thank-yous." Don"t try to give me no more. Come up to the light and have dinner. I smell fish chowder, and I do think my Sister Heppy can make fish chowder "bout right."
Conway Degger evidently agreed with the lightkeeper regarding Miss Heppy"s cooking. After Tobias had aided the cripple to hop up the strand and to the light, and had introduced him to Miss Heppy, Degger proceeded to make himself quite at home. Miss Heppy plodded up the spiral stairway to the lamp room after dinner to consult with her brother.
"He wants I should take him to board for a spell," she said. "He seems a civil spoken sort of boy. I s"pose we could put him in the spare room, now that you"ve finally got new winder-sashes for it."
"Wal, I s"pose you could."
"He wants to stay till his foot gets better. It"s as black as your hat.
I been bandaging it."
"Did he want a bandage put on his pocketbook, too?"
"Now, Tobias! He"s going to pay me four dollars."
"For the bandage?"
"A week. For his board."