Frank and Andy Afloat | Page 4

Andy's.
"Look out!" frantically shouted the older lad.
"I can't! He's got me!" screamed Andy.
The next instant there was a splintering, crashing and rending of wood. A shower of spray flew high in the air. Frank's boat rocked on the heavy swell caused by the flukes of the whale, as they went deep into the water after delivering a glancing blow upon the unfortunate Andy's skiff.
Frank had a momentary glance of his brother's boat, with one side smashed down to the water's edge. He saw the green sea pouring in, and he saw Andy standing up, ready to leap overboard. He saw the maddened monster sheering off out to sea again, and then Frank cried:
"I'm coming, Andy! I'm coming! I'll save you! Hold on to your boat! Don't jump!"
The whale disappeared in a smother of foam, as Frank, with desperate energy, bent to his oars and swung his boat in the direction of the sinking one containing his brother.
CHAPTER II
THE WRECKED MOTOR BOAT
"Hold on, Andy! Hold on! You'll float for a while yet!" called Frank, while he threw all his strength upon the oars in the endeavor to reach his brother. He cast anxious eyes about, fearing a return of the whale, but there was no sign of the big creature.
"All right--take your time!" called Andy. "I can keep afloat for quite a while yet. Maybe I won't sink after all."
"I'm not taking any chances," returned Frank, and then he swung his craft up alongside that of his brother. As Andy had said, his skiff was in pretty good condition. This was due to two causes. The blow of the whale's tail had been a glancing one, and the skiff had an unusually high freeboard, so that though it was splintered down to the water edge, not much of the sea had entered.
"I believe she'll float when I'm out of it so she'll ride higher," declared the younger lad. "Take me into your boat, and maybe we can tow mine in and fix it up. It's too good to lose."
"That's right. Wow! But you had a narrow escape!" and Frank looked very grave as he assisted his brother into the undamaged craft. "I thought it was all up with you."
"So did I, when I saw that beast coming for me. But he sheered off just in time. Then I felt sure my boat would fill and sink in an instant, when I saw the water pouring in, after he swiped me, so I got ready to jump. I didn't want to be carried down with it."
"That's right. Say, that's cut through as clean as if done with a knife," and Frank looked at the slash in the side of his brother's boat. It was indeed a sharp cut, and showed with what awful force the tail of the monster must have descended.
"As much water came pouring in over the side as there did through the hole," went on Andy. "That's what gave me a scare. But did you see the harpoon in that whale?"
"No, was there one?"
"Sure as you're a foot high. There was a short piece of line fast to it, and the whale had a big hole in his side. He's been wounded, probably by a steamer's propeller after he was harpooned up north, or else that's the wound of a bomb gun. I could see it quite plainly."
"Yes, you had a nearer view than I'd want," observed Frank, as he made fast Andy's boat to the stern of his own. As the younger lad had said, his skiff, now that it was higher in the water, because his weight was out of it, took in very little of the sea.
"I guess we can tow it if we bail out," observed Frank. "Are you very wet?"
"Not much--only up to my knees. I was just going to jump in and swim for it when you called to me. Well, here goes for bailing."
"Yes, and if you shift that anchor back to the stern it will raise the bow, and the hole will be so much more out of water. It'll row easier, too."
"Right you are, my hearty. Shiver my timbers! But it's some excitement we've been having!" and Andy laughed.
"Say, I believe you'd joke if your boat was all smashed to pieces, and you were floating around on the back of the whale," observed Frank gravely.
"Of course I would. A miss is as good as a mile and a half. But if I can find my other oar I'll help you row in your boat. It ought to be somewhere around here," and Andy ceased his bailing operations to cast anxious looks over the rolling waves.
"Yes, we'll look for it after we get some of the water out of your craft. I can't get over what a close call you had,"