Part 33 (1/2)
”Somebody calling. Listen!”
All were silent once more, and just then the wind fell a little.
”I don't hear anything,” said Dora.
But then followed a distant voice--two voices calling desperately:
”Help! help! Our boat is sinking! Help!”
CHAPTER XXIII
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BAY
To go back to Tom, Sam, and Captain Blossom at the time that they placed the two dead goats in their rowboat and prepared to return to the camp.
It was already raining by the time the sh.o.r.e of the bay was reached, and scarcely had they begun to row when the water came pouring down in torrents.
”Gracious! I must say I don't like this!” cried Tom. ”The rain is running down my neck in a stream.”
”I move we row into sh.o.r.e over yonder,” said Sam, pointing up the coast. ”There are some trees which will shelter both us and the boat nicely.”
Captain Blossom was willing, and in a few minutes they were under the trees and wringing out their clothes as best they could.
”If I know anything about it, this storm is going to last for some time,” said the captain, after a long look at the sky.
”Such a downfall as this can't last,” said Sam. ”Perhaps we can get home between showers.”
It was dry under the trees for about half an hour, but then the water began to reach them once more, and they had to s.h.i.+ft their position again.
This kept up for some time, until all were wet through and thoroughly uncomfortable, when Tom proposed that they start for home regardless of the storm.
”We can't get any wetter than we are,” he declared. ”And the sooner we reach the house the sooner we'll be able to change our clothes.”
The others agreed, and when the worst of the lightning and thunder had pa.s.sed they set off once more, two rowing and the third steering the boat and bailing out the water, which came in faster than was desirable.
”When it rains in the tropics, it rains,” observed Tom. ”Puts me in mind of that storm we met when we were in Africa. Do you remember, Sam?”
”Indeed, I do,” answered his brother. ”I thought we'd all be killed by the trees that fell in the jungle.”
”Have you been in Africa?” came from Captain Blossom in astonishment.
”Yes,” answered Tom. ”Our father got lost there once, and we went in search of him,” and he gave a few of the particulars, as already related in another volume of this series, ent.i.tled ”The Rover Boys in the Jungle.”
”Well, you boys have had some ups and downs,” said the captain. ”But I reckon you weren't cast away before like this.”
”Not like this,” answered Sam. ”But we were left on a lonely island once in Lake Huron,” and he related a few particulars of their exciting experiences with the Baxters while on the Great Lakes.
Another downpour of rain cut off the talking, and Tom was kept busy bailing out the row-boat. With three persons and the two dead goats the craft was pretty heavily loaded, and more than once the rising wind swept some water over the bow.