THE ROVER BOYS Boxed Set: 26 Illustrated Adventure Novels. Stratemeyer Edward

Nellie.

      By the time Lesher and Baxter had finished eating the storm was on them in all of its vio lence. The wind shrieked and tore through the jungle behind them, and often they could hear some tall tree go down with a crash.

      "This will tear our flag of distress to shreds," said Nellie. "And just when we need it so much, too!"

      "I am thinking of the future as well as the present," said Dora. "What a rough time there will be if Lesher brings those other sailors here. Some of them were heavy drinkers like himself, and only two or three were Americans."

      The storm had whipped the waters of the bay into a fury, and the rain was so thick that to see even the island on which the wreck rested was impossible.

      "Dick can't come now," said Dora. "A boat on the bay would surely go down."

      Having finished the meal, Lesher and Baxter sat down in the living room to smoke and to talk over the situation. The mate continued to drink, and half an hour later he fell asleep, sitting on the bench, and with his head on the table.

      "The beast!" said Dora, as she peeped out at him. "Well, there is one satisfaction," she continued: "he cannot harm us while he is asleep."

      "You girls better have your own dinner," called out Baxter. "I aint going to eat you up."

      "We will get our dinner when we please," said Nellie, as she came out. "We are not afraid of you, Dan Baxter."

      No more was said for a long time. The girls ate what little they wished and washed up the dishes. The rain still continued to fall in torrents, but the thunder and lightning drifted away to the eastward.

      Dora was the most anxious of the trio, and at every opportunity she tried to look through the driving rain toward the wreck.

      "I'd give almost anything to know if Dick is safe," she murmured.

      "Don't be discouraged, Dora," said Grace. "Perhaps he will return as soon as the storm is over."

      The girls were huddled close to a window, looking out into the rain, when Dan Baxter threw aside the pipe he had been smoking and approached them.

      "See here, girls," he said, "why can't we be friends? What is the use of being enemies in such a place as this?"

      "Dan Baxter, we want you to keep your distance," said Nellie coldly.

      "And if you do not, it will be the worse for you when the others come back," put in Grace.

      "Humph! I reckon you think it is fine to ride such a high horse," sneered the bully. "What are you going to do when we bring the rest of the sailors over here? We'll be eleven to seven then."

      "Never mind what we'll do," said Dora. "I would rather have the company of some of those sailors than your company."

      "That is where you make a mistake. The sailors are all rough fellows, some of them worse than Jack Lesher. Now, if you are willing to count me as a friend, I'll stand by you when the crowd comes over."

      "We don't want your friendship, Dan Baxter, so there!" cried Nellie. "We know your past, and we know that you cannot be trusted."

      "Don't think I am as good as the Rovers, eh?"

      "We all know that you are not," answered Grace.

      "What have you done to Dick Rover? " questioned Dora. "He ought to be here long be fore this."

      "Oh, I guess the storm is holding him back," said Baxter, shifting uneasily as she gazed ear nestly into his eyes.

      "If anything has happened to Dick, I shall hold you responsible," said Dora.

      At that moment the fury of the storm cut off further talking. A sud<ten rush of wind had come up, whistling through the jungle and bringing down a palm close to the house with a crash. The fall of the tree made Baxter jump in alarm.

      "The house is coming down!" he cried, and ran outside.

      The wind made the waves in the bay rise higher and higher until they lashed furiously in all directions. Then came another downpour of rain, which caused the bully to seek shelter again.

      "Hark!" said Nellie suddenly, and raised her hand for silence.

      "What did you hear?" asked Grace.

      "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

       Table of Contents

      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 shore 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 shore 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 shift 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 passed 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, entitled "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 rowboat. 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.

      "I'd give a little to be ashore again," said Tom presently. "It seems to me that the rain is shutting out everything."

      "We'll have to land again, lads," put in the captain, with a grave shake of his head. "This wind is growing worse. We don't want