Dave Darrins Third Year at Annapolis | Page 6

Dave suddenly rose and straightened himself.
"Look downstream, girls," he cried. "Do you see the big rollers coming?"
In truth the surface of the river was now beginning to behave in an unusual way. Where, heretofore, the water had been choppy and whitecapped, the water now broke in longer, foam-crested waves. Owing to the course of the wind the waves were rolling upstream. Within five minutes from the time when Dave first called attention to the rougher water the waves had considerably increased in size.
"Oh, I'm glad I'm not out on the water," shivered Laura.
"So am I," Belle admitted candidly.
"Do you believe Tom Foss can bring his boat down against such waves!" Laura inquired.
"Oh, no doubt, he has had sense enough to run in somewhere and tie up," predicted Midshipman Dan charitably.
"I hope so," murmured Belle. "But Tom is an awfully stubborn fellow."
Toot! too-oo-oot! sounded a whistle up the river.
"By ginger, there comes Foss's boat now!" muttered Dan, standing up and staring. "Why doesn't the idiot make land?"
"He's got his craft away on the other side of the river, looking for quieter water," muttered Dave uneasily.
"Well, isn't that right?" asked Belle.
"Right, yes, unless he makes the mistake of trying to cross the stream," nodded Darrin. "Then he'll run his craft into the trough of the sea, and--"
"Well, what?" demanded Belle as Dave paused.
"Then, when he's in the trough, a big wave may roll his small boat over," Dan finished for his comrade.
"Do you really think there's danger of that?" demanded Laura, looking anxious.
"I don't know," murmured Dave. "But I wish I had some way of signaling Foss, some way so that he could understand the signals."
"What good would it do?" demanded Midshipman Dalzell, grimly. "Tom would only laugh and say it was more old maidishness on the part of Navy men."
"There--confound the idiot!" suddenly blazed Dave Darrin. "He is crossing. Look at that boat wallow in the trough. Jupiter! There she goes over--nearly!"
All four young people on the float held their breath for an instant. The motor launch, after almost having turned turtle, righted itself.
"I wish I were at the wheel of the boat for about three minutes," muttered Darrin hoarsely.
At that moment Laura and Belle both screamed, while Dan Dalzell shouted:
"There she goes--for sure, this time!"
A bigger wave than usual had half filled the launch and caused it to careen. Before the little craft could right itself a second and a third wave, rolling along, had completed the work. The launch had sunk!
CHAPTER II
PROVING THEIR TRAINING
In the same instant, without a word to each other, Dave Darrin and Dalzell had done the same thing. That is, they started to run and at the same time doffed coats and vests, leaving these garments to flutter behind them.
As they reached the sailboat both midshipmen cast off their shoes. Dave leaped into the boat while Dalzell threw off the bowline, then boarded.
Like a flash both youngsters went at the lashings of the mainsail.
"There isn't a reef in," Dan discovered. "Going to take time for a close reef, Dave?"
"There isn't time," Darrin muttered, with drops of cold perspiration on his forehead as he toiled. "We'll have to go out under a full sail, Dan."
"Great Scott!" muttered Dalzell.
"We may be too late to save any one as it is. There! Jump to the halyard. I've got the sheet."
Dan Dalzell began to hoist with a will. In an incredibly short time he had the sail hoisted all the way up, while Darrin, stern and whitefaced, crouched and braced himself by the tiller, gripping the sheet with his left hand.
In a twinkling Darrin had the wind in his canvas. They had nearly a fair wind as they bounded away from the float.
During these few instants of preparation neither Belle nor Laura had spoken. Both girls realized the gravity of the situation, and they knew that a word from them might distract the rescuers from the work in hand.
Knowing that he had the high, fast wind with him, Dave steered straight for the last spot where he had seen the motor launch. Though the boat was no longer visible, and the distance too great for seeing the heads of the swimmers, if there were any, Darrin had taken his bearings by trees on the further shore upstream.
At first, to keep the sailboat from capsizing, the young skipper at the helm let the sheet well out. Then, when Dan hurriedly rejoined him, Darrin passed the sheet over to his comrade as to one who would know exactly what to do with it. Dan perched himself on the weather gunwale, his weight there serving as ballast to keep the craft from capsizing. Yet, even so, everything had to be done with the utmost skill, for, with the mainsail up, the least fluke in handling the boat would send her over.
"We've got