"You have done some yachting, then?"
"I have," said Jake. "I used to sail a shoal-draught sloop on Long Island
Sound. Anyway, if I'd been towing those coal-scows, I'd have edged in
near the beach, for the sake of smoother water, and wouldn't have headed
out until I saw the reef. It will be pretty wet on board the scows now,
and they'll have had to put a man on each to steer."
Dick nodded agreement and signed the fireman to turn on more steam as he
followed the tug outshore. The swell got steadily higher and broke in
angry surges. The launch plunged, and rattled as she swung her screw out
of the sea, but Dick kept his course abreast of the tug, which he could
only distinguish at intervals between the clouds of spray. Her masthead
lights reeled wildly to and fro, but the low red gleam from the barges
was hidden and he began to wonder why her captain was steering out so
far. It was prudent not to skirt the reef, but the fellow seemed to be
giving it unnecessary room. The lighters would tow badly through the
white, curling sea, and there was a risk of the hawsers breaking.
Besides, the engineer had complained that his machinery was not running
well.
A quarter of an hour later, a belt of foam between them and the land
marked the reef, and the wind brought off the roar of breaking surf. Soon
afterwards, the white surge faded, and only the tug's lights were left as
a long cloud-bank drove across the moon. Jake stood up, shielding his
eyes from the spray.
"He's broken his rope; the coal's adrift!" he cried.
Dick saw the tug's lights vanish, which meant that she had turned with
her stern towards the launch; and then two or three twinkling specks some
distance off.
"He'd tow the first craft with a double rope, a bridle from his
quarters," he said. "It's strange that both parts broke, and, so far as I
can make out, the tail barge has parted her hawser, too."
A whistle rang out, and Dick called for full-speed as the tug's green
light showed.
"We'll help him to pick up the barges," he remarked.
The moon shone out as they approached the nearest, and a bright beam
swept across the sea until it touched the lurching craft. Her wet side
glistened about a foot above the water and then vanished as a white surge
lapped over it and washed across her deck. A rope trailed from her bow
and her long tiller jerked to and fro. It was obvious that she was adrift
with nobody on board, and Dick cautiously steered the launch towards her.
"That's curious, but perhaps the rest drove foul of her and the helmsman
lost his nerve and jumped," he said. "I'll put Maccario on board to give
us the hawser."