Part 26 (2/2)

”I think I'll run before the storm,” said d.i.c.k. ”We must either do that or face it. The yacht is beginning to roil.”

”Yah, I feel dot!” sighed Hans, who had begun to turn pale.

”Hans, are you getting seasick?” demanded Sam.

”I ton't know, put I clink me my stomach vos going inside owid alretty!”

”You're certainly seasick,” said d.i.c.k, with a grin. ”Better lie down for a while.”

”Oh, my!” groaned the German youth, and rushed, first to the rail of the steam yacht and then to the cabin. He was indeed sick, and that was the last the others saw of him while the storm lasted.

Soon came a whistling wind and then the rain fell in torrents. The sea was lashed into a white foam and the waves became higher and higher, cras.h.i.+ng against the stern of the _Mermaid_, as she ran before them. At one moment the steam yacht would be on the top of the waves, the next she would sink down and down in the trough of the sea.

”You don't think we'll be wrecked, do you?” asked Sam, as he left his duty as fireman and came to the wheelhouse, where d.i.c.k stood, with all the windows down, trying to peer forth through the fury of the elements.

”Not at all, Sam,--but this is something fierce and no mistake.”

”Poor Hans is down and out. I heard him rolling on his berth and groaning with distress.”

”Well, leave him alone. He'll be sick as long as the storm lasts, most likely, and you'll only make matters worse by looking at him.”

With the coming of night the storm appeared to increase. It was pitch-black on every side and d.i.c.k did not dare to run the _Mermaid_ at more than quarter speed--just enough to keep her from swinging around broadside to the storm. All the lanterns were lit and hung up, Sam doing this with an oilsilk coat around him--a garment found in one of the staterooms. Yet he came in pretty wet.

”It's a screamer,” he announced to Tom, as he dried himself by the boiler. ”Never knew they could have such storms down here.”

”They have storms all over the world,” answered Tom. ”What is d.i.c.k doing?”

”Running before the wind.”

”He just told me to slow down more yet.”

”Well, he can't see a thing ahead and he doesn't want to run into anything.”

”And Hans?”

”Down, the sickest ever.”

”Too bad! I know what it is to be sick. Better leave him alone.”

”That's what d.i.c.k said.”

As but little steam was needed Sam had no call to urge on his fire beneath the boiler, and he and Tom sat down near the speaking tube, to talk occasionally to d.i.c.k.

Thus two hours went by. n.o.body had the least desire to go to sleep, even though the long swim had made each boy rather tired. The fury of the elements made them nervous.

”This puts me in mind of the time we were on the Pacific,” called down d.i.c.k through the speaking tube. He referred to the adventures they had had as related in ”The Rover Boys on Land and Sea.”

”Well, we don't want to be cast away on a lonely island as we were then,” said Sam.

<script>