The Adventurous Four - - Страница 27

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Tom dragged his hand in the cool water. He liked the movement of the raft running over the sea. The sun shone steadily down and the boys became very hot. Tom took off his jersey and hung it safely over the top of the mast, out of reach of the waves.

"Golly! I'm cooking!" he said. Luckily the boys had got hats with them, and these shaded the sun from their heads or they might have felt sick. The sun blazed down, and at last the boys let themselves drop into the sea, holding on to the edge of the raft all the time. This cooled them a little, and they scrambled back wet and panting.

"It would be an awful thing if one of us let go the raft," said Tom. "It's going at such a pace that it would soon leave us behind in the sea and we'd never be found again."

"Well, for goodness' sake hang on tightly then, next time we cool ourselves," said Andy. "What about something to eat?"

They opened a tin of salmon and a tin of pears, and had a good meal, though Tom longed for some bread with the salmon. It was odd sitting there eating on the bobbing raft, all by themselves in the midst of a wide heaving sea.

The day seemed endless—but at last the sun slid down the sky and the sea turned from green to purple in the twilight. "It's not so warm now," said Tom, taking his jersey down from the mast.

"Tom, see if you can have a nap for a while," said Andy. "I don't think we ought both to sleep at once. The wind might change, or a storm might blow up—you sleep now and I'll have a nap later."

Tom wrapped himself in a rug and tried to go to sleep. Andy slipped a rope round his waist and tied him to the box in the middle.

"You might roll off the raft in the middle of the night," he said with a grin. "I shouldn't like to look round and find you gone, Tom!"

Tom lay on his back and looked up at the night sky. It was a clear night, with no moon and the stars shone brightly. Andy pointed out the North Star to Tom.

"That tells me we are still going in the right direction," said Andy. "At this rate we should sight the coast we're heading for in about three or four days."

"Oh—as long as that!" said Tom in great disappointment. "I thought we'd only by a day or two, going at this pace."

"This is a raft, not a sailing-smack," said Andy. "Now go to sleep. I'll wake you if I need you for anything."

Tom slept. He dreamt he was on a swing, going up and down, up and down in the air. It was very pleasant. Then he dreamt he was being scolded by lill for something and she suddenly threw a pail of cold water right over him! He woke with a jump and sat up.

"Did that wave wake you?" said Andy with a grin. "I thought it would. It popped its head up, saw you asleep and jumped right on you!"

Tom laughed and lay down again. He thought about Andy—what a good sort he was—always doing what he felt was best and wisest—never grumbling—always willing to do the hardest job. It was a good thing Tom and the girls had had Andy to help them.

Andy awoke Tom near dawn and told him to sit up and keep watch. "The wind's still right," he said. "Watch it, Tom. You can see the North Star, can't you? I'm so sleepy I can't keep awake much longer."

Andy tied himself up safely, lay down and was asleep as his head touched the rug that made a pillow for him. Tom sat and watched the dawn coming. It was a wonderful sight. First the sky turned to silver and the sea turned to silver too. Soon a pink flush came into the eastern sky and then it changed to a blaze of gold. The sea sparkled and glinted with gold too.

Tom wished he could wake Andy up and make him see the magnificent sight. There was nothing but sea and sky, all glowing with colour. Bat Andy was tired and Tom sat and watched it by himself, half afraid of the strange beauty around Jim.

After a while Tom felt very hungry. He burrowed in the box of food to see what there was. He felt like a meal of tongue or ham. He picked out a tin of tongue and opened it. It smelt delicious.

Andy woke up after a while and shared the meat with Tom. They opened some pine-apple and had that too. The juice was very pleasant. They poured water into the tin and make a kind of pine-apple drink to have later on in the day.

Andy sniffed the wind, and looked at the sky. "There's a change coming," he said. "I do hope we shan't be blown out of our way. We were getting on so well!"

The sea was rougher. Waves slopped over the deck almost every minute now. Only by sitting up on the box of food could the boys keep dry from the waist up. Once or twice the raft heeled over, and Tom had to clutch the mast to keep from over-balancing.

"Blow!" said Tom. "What does the sea want to get so rough for? It's a good thing we're both good sailors or we'd be very ill."

Andy looked anxiously at the sky. "I'm afraid the wind is changing," he said. "We shall be blown right out of our way if it does. The sea is getting very rough, Tom. I think we'd both better tie ourselves firmly to the mast. It won't do for either of us to be thrown off the raft—and a big wave could easily dash one of us overboard!"

So they tied themselves to the mast, and then watched the scurrying clouds, wondering if they would suddenly slow down—and fly the other way!

Alas for Tom and Andy! The wind did change and blew strongly the other way. Andy took down the sail hurriedly. "We don't want to be blown back to our island!" he said. "We must just bob along without a sail now and hope for the best. When the wind changes again we'll put up the sail once more."

"I wonder if the enemy has found out that we've escaped," said Tom. "They might send a seaplane out after us if they found out we've gone. They'd know we were on a raft."

"Well, the girls wouldn't give us away, that's certain," said Andy. "But the enemy might easily guess we'd make a raft, if they searched the island for us and missed us—and they could send out a seaplane or two to hunt the seas for us. We're a good way from the island now—but a seaplane could easily find us."

"I hope one doesn't," said Tom. "Isn't this wind hateful, Andy? It just won't stop! It's wasting all our time."

The wind blew cold. The sun was behind the clouds. Big waves slapped around the raft and seemed really spiteful. "Almost as if they want to snatch us off," said Tom, tightening the rope that tied him safely to the mast. He shivered. There was no shelter at all on the open raft, and no way of getting warm or dry now that the sun was not to be seen.

"Do a few arm exercises, Tom," said Andy, "That will get you a bit warmer!"

The boys swung their arms and slapped themselves. The waves raced along and the raft raced along too—but not in the right direction, Tom was sure!

And then, towards afternoon, the wind dropped again, and the sun shone out! What a relief that was! The boys sunned themselves gladly, and were soon warm. Andy rigged the sail again. "We'll get the wind we want this evening," he said. "We'll be ready for it."

Sure enough, as the sun slid down the western sky, the wind got up again—and this time it was Wowing from the right quarter! Andy was delighted.

The sail flapped and the little raft raced along nobly. "I think the wind's set in properly now," said Andy, pleased. "If only it holds for another couple of days we may be home—or, at any rate, see a ship we can hail."

The wind became stiffer as the evening drew on. The sun was just about to slip over the sky-line when Andy sat up straight and looked alarmed.

"Can you hear a noise?" he asked Tom.

"Plenty," said Tom. "The wind and the waves and the sail!"

"No—not that sort of noise," said Andy. "A noise like—a seaplane.»

Tom's heart almost stopped beating. Surely their escape hadn't been discovered after all! He sat and listened.

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