Part 30 (2/2)
The captain pointed a gnarled finger at a faint smudge on the distant horizon.
”Yonder she is,” he answered. ”Shall we go out and meet her?”
”Yes, oh, yes!” shouted the Meadow-Brook Girls gleefully. He changed the course of the ”Sister Sue” ever so little, and they went bowling along over the Atlantic rollers headed for the big liner that was approaching them at nearly thirty miles an hour.
CHAPTER XXI
AN ANXIOUS OUTLOOK
”Come out, girlth, and thee the thhip,” shouted Tommy, poking her head into the cabin.
”Go away and don't bother me,” groaned Margery. ”Can't you see how sick I am?”
”Ithn't that too bad?” deplored Tommy, withdrawing her face with a most unsympathetic grin. All those on deck were watching the black smudge on the horizon, and as they gazed it grew into a great, dark cloud. Out of the cloud, after a time, they saw white foam flas.h.i.+ng in the sunlight, caused by the displacement of the great s.h.i.+p as she forged through the summer seas.
”Shall we pa.s.s near her?” questioned Miss Elting.
”We're right on her course,” replied the skipper. ”We'll turn out soon, for she won't s.h.i.+ft her position an inch unless she thinks we're going to run into her. Let your boat off a point to starboard, Miss Burrell.”
”Aye, aye,” answered Harriet promptly, s.h.i.+fting the wheel slightly, eyes fixed on the trembling compa.s.s card. The s.h.i.+ft of position threw the wind directly abeam. It was now blowing squarely against the quarter, causing the sloop to heel down at a sharp angle. The boat fairly leaped forward, her lee rail almost buried in a smother of foam. The eyes of the girl at the wheel sparkled with pleasure. It was glorious. Harriet Burrell could not remember to have enjoyed a happier moment.
”They are watching us,” announced the captain, who had been examining the oncoming s.h.i.+p through his gla.s.s. ”They think we may be coming out to speak to them,” he added with a chuckle.
”We don't thpeak thhipth in the daylight,” answered Tommy, drawing a quick glance from the captain. Harriet gave her a warning look, then devoted her attention to steering the course, glancing at the oncoming s.h.i.+p every now and then.
”Swing out,” directed Captain Billy. ”She throws a heavy swell. We will cut across it at right angles pa.s.sing under her stern. I'll tell you when to swing in so we'll just make it. Now, can you see the people?”
”Yes, yes!” cried the girls.
The huge red and black funnels belching clouds of dense black smoke were now plainly visible, as were the towering upperworks of the s.h.i.+p, and the bridge high in the air.
”Swing in,” commanded the ”Sue's” skipper.
Harriet put the helm hard over. The sloop responded quickly. Now the spray dashed over the boat in a drenching shower, bringing shouts of glee from the Meadow-Brook Girls. The move in a few minutes brought them so close to the big s.h.i.+p that the girls could look into the fresh sea-blown faces of the pa.s.sengers who crowded the rails on that side of the liner. It seemed as if the sloop must crash into the side of the larger boat. Harriet glanced inquiringly at Captain Billy, who nodded encouragingly, from which she understood that there was no cause for alarm.
The girls were now waving their handkerchiefs and shouting to the amazed pa.s.sengers, who could not understand why a party in so frail a craft should be met with far out to sea, how far few of those on the s.h.i.+p knew. They did know that they were out of sight of land, which made the marvel all the greater.
”Point in closer,” commanded Captain Billy.
Harriet swung in still more. The ”Sister Sue” buried her nose in the foamy, eddying wake of the liner close under the counter, so close, in fact, that the girls could see the water boiling over the twin propellers and hear their beat. The next moment they had pa.s.sed her and were on the open, rolling sea again, with the big s.h.i.+p thres.h.i.+ng her way toward New York, rapidly widening the gap between herself and the venturesome little craft. For the moment that they had been blanketed by the steamer their sails had flattened and they had lost headway, but now the wind picked them up, the sails bellied and the little sloop continued on her way.
”We must turn now,” said the skipper, consulting the skies, which he swept with a comprehensive glance. He gave Harriet the return course.
”I fear we are going to lose the wind. It will pick up later, however.
No need to be anxious.” He stepped inside the cabin and, leaning forward, consulted the barometer. Harriet noted that his face wore a look of anxiety for the moment. But it had entirely disappeared when he returned to the deck. Once more he swept the horizon.
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