Part 8 (1/2)
The ”Red Rover” lurched heavily to one side. The rush of water that accompanied the lurch tumbled the Meadow-Brook Girls to the lower side of the cabin. A volume of water rushed over them, and the furnis.h.i.+ngs of the cabin were piled on top of them; in some instances a crus.h.i.+ng weight pinioned them to the floor.
The houseboat had sustained a severe blow, though as yet they could not determine the nature of it. To make the situation more terrifying the cabin was in utter darkness. For a moment the voices of the Meadow-Brook Girls were stilled; then a chorus of screams, more terrified than before, rose from the lips of the frightened girls.
CHAPTER V
LAND HO!
”Please--please keep quiet,” cried Harriet, making herself heard above the tumult. ”Don't be frightened! We aren't sinking, and we are not going to. Answer loudly when I call your names, so that I may know each one of you is here.”
”Now,” she continued after the frightened girls had answered to their names. ”We'll try to find out what happened. You see that the boat has stopped pitching, and the side roll isn't as p.r.o.nounced as it was.”
”What'th the anthwer?” piped Tommy.
”I don't know--yet,” Harriet confessed. ”But I'm going to know.”
”The water is still coming in, and getting deeper,” s.h.i.+vered Margery.
”Get out through the rear door,” Harriet commanded. ”One at a time.”
”Which door is the rear one?” queried Crazy Jane. ”All doors look alike to me.”
”Move away from the direction that the water is coming from,” Harriet continued.
a.s.sisted by Jane McCarthy the girls obeyed Harriet's directions. Tommy and Margery first, then Miss Elting and Hazel. In the c.o.c.kpit the water was not as deep, but Jane drove them all to the upper deck.
”The captain must go last, you know,” laughed Harriet, as she climbed up to join them.
By this time the girls were s.h.i.+vering with cold. The kimonos of washable crepe in which they had elected to sleep during the cruise afforded them little warmth.
”Get close together and keep each other warm,” called Miss Elting.
”What! Sit down and s.h.i.+ver here all night long?” shouted Harriet. ”No, indeed. We must do something or we shall lose our boat.”
”Wha--at happened?” s.h.i.+vered Margery.
”The waves smashed the front door in. That's all I know about it now.”
”Oh, look!” screamed Hazel. ”It's land!”
”Land, ho!” cried Crazy Jane.
”Yes, I know,” replied Harriet calmly. ”We are on sh.o.r.e. We have been blown partly ash.o.r.e. I saw that a moment after we came out here. There is no danger to us, but there is to the boat.”
”Did the anchor give way?” questioned the guardian, a sigh of relief escaping her upon learning that the immediate danger was over.
”I don't know. Jane! I want you. We must go to the front of the boat and see what can be done to stop the water from coming in. Are you ready?”
”All ready,” called Jane. ”Where away?”
”Below there.”