Having cleared out the supply pipe as well as they were able, Jack and Ralph adjusted the same. Then the motor was started and after considerable spluttering the engine seemed to work almost as well as ever.
But all this had taken time, and now the sun was hidden completely, and the fog had settled down upon them like a gigantic blanket, shutting off the view in all directions.
“They had it right when they put up those storm signals,” was Fred’s dubious comment. “Gee! did you ever see fog come in such a hurry?”
“Yes, and just notice how wet and cold it is, too,” added Randy, shivering. “I’ll bet the thermometer has gone down twenty degrees.”
“We might as well put on our slickers,” suggested Jack, for they had provided themselves with raincoats for the trip.
“I suppose we’ll have to steer by the compass entirely,” said Ralph. “Which way shall we head—back to Nantucket or for Chatham?”
“Which do you think is nearest?” questioned Gif.
“I think we’re about half way, Gif.”
“In that case, we might as well go on,” put in Spouter. “We don’t want to be tied up at Nantucket indefinitely. If we reach Chatham, or some other point on the Cape, then, if the weather continues to be bad, we can always get back by train.”
“Yes, but we don’t want to leave Ralph alone with the boat,” said Jack.
“Oh, that would be all right,” answered the former major of the school battalion. “I haven’t got to get back, you know. My time is my own. I can stay anywhere until the weather clears up, and then it will be an easy matter for me to run along the coast to New Bedford, where we keep the Fancy.”
“You’ll have to run slow, Ralph, and toot your horn,” said Randy. “We don’t want to smash into anything.”
“Every one of you had better keep his eyes and ears wide open. We’re right in the course used by a whole lot of steamers going up and down the coast. If one of those big vessels hits us it might cut us in two.”
“Wow! but you’re a cheerful customer,” murmured Andy. “You’ll have us at the bottom of the ocean before you know it.”
But in spite of this raillery, Andy knew as well as the others that there was need for caution. Two of the lads stationed themselves in the bow of the motor boat, and as they proceeded the horn of which the craft boasted was sounded frequently.
Not daring to take too many chances, the Fancy was run at half speed. Thus they had covered about a mile when they heard a hoarse whistle coming from a distance.
“There is one of the big steamers now!” cried Gif.
“I hope she isn’t headed our way,” put in Spouter, quickly.
The boys continued to toot the horn of the motor boat, and listened intently to the deep tone coming from the unknown. Slowly but surely the warning through the fog kept coming closer and closer.
“My gracious! she’s coming this way as sure as fate,” burst out Fred. “Toot that horn for all you’re worth!”
“Let’s yell,” suggested Randy, and all of the boys yelled with might and main, making as much noise as they had ever made in their lives.
“I’ve got an idea!” cried Andy, presently, and dashed into the cabin. He reappeared with a tin pan and a big spoon. At once he began to beat on the pan as hard as he could.
It was a time of intense anxiety. Although they strained their eyes to the utmost, none of the lads could pierce the blanket of fog which hung thickly on every side. They turned on the searchlight, but even this revealed nothing but the murky water just ahead of them.
And in that dense fog the hoarse notes from the steamer were highly deceptive. First the boys thought they came from the right, then from the left, and then they were certain they were dead ahead. Their nerves were tense, and every second seemed like an hour. And slowly but surely the warning whistle came closer and closer.
“Maybe you had better back her, Ralph,” suggested Jack, and at once the engine was started up again and set in reverse.
“There she is! On our right!” called out Randy, a moment later.
“She’s heading this way!” screamed Fred.
“Back her, Ralph! Back her, or we’ll be cut in two!” bellowed Gif.
Like a great ghost the bow of the steamer shone forth in the rays of the motor-boat searchlight. There was a clanging of bells, and the big steamer veered off while the Fancy continued to back. As the stern of the large vessel swept within twenty feet of the smaller craft, the boys caught sight of many passengers and some officers peering anxiously over the rail at them. Then the big steamer was swallowed up again in the fog and the motor boat and its occupants were left to themselves.
It must be admitted that all of the cadets had been scared, and with good reason. Now that the peril was over, each felt a sinking sensation, and Fred and Spouter were close to fainting. It was several seconds before any one felt like speaking.
“It’s a good thing you backed, Ralph,” said Gif, soberly. “If you hadn’t done it we might have been cut in two.”
“We’ve got Jack to thank for that,” answered the young commander of the Fancy. “It certainly was a close shave, wasn’t it?” he added, with a sigh of relief.
“Well, we’re not yet out of our troubles,” came from Randy. “Where there is one boat like that there’s apt to be more. I think we had better head for the Cape as quickly as we can make it.”
“Oh, we can’t afford to run fast,” broke in Fred. “The best thing to do is to run as cautiously as possible.”
“I’d give as much as ten dollars to be on land again,” murmured Spouter. “We were fools not to heed those storm warnings.”
So far there had been no rain. But now a miserable drizzle set in, as cold as it was dismal. The boys buttoned up their slickers tightly and pulled their caps well down over their faces. But with it all they felt far from comfortable and could not keep from shivering.
“Might as well have a bite to eat,” suggested Andy, after another hour had passed and they were still in the midst of the cold drizzle and fog. “Maybe it will warm us up.”
The lunch was passed around, and although some of the boys did not have much of an appetite, the food disappeared quite rapidly. With the lunch they had brought along a thermos bottle filled with hot coffee, and this beverage was comforting.
Presently the wind began to blow and the boys had hopes that this would dispel the fog. But they speedily found out their mistake. Once or twice they saw a bit of clearing, but then the wind died down and the fog seemed to become thicker than ever, the glass of the cabin windows running with water inside and out.
“A fellow doesn’t realize what sunshine means until it fails him,” was Spouter’s comment. “Gosh! how good it would seem if the sun came out as bright as it was yesterday.”
“Well, there is one thing to be thankful for,” said Jack, trying to be cheerful. “So far as I can see, this boat doesn’t leak a drop.”
“You wouldn’t expect a brand new boat to leak, would you?” asked Gif.
“Some boats might—if they had been kept dry too long,” put in Fred.
“I don’t think we need worry about the Fancy leaking,” came from Ralph. “And I don’t think we’ll have any serious trouble with the engine—although, of course, we may have some if that gasoline is too dirty. After this I’m going to have every gallon I buy strained before it is put in.”
Another half hour passed, and again they heard the hoarse whistle of a steamer, this time from their left.
“She’s coming up the coast, but she doesn’t seem to be very close,” said Andy. “Gosh! I hope she passes by without scaring the wits out of us,” he added, with a wry smile.
As before, the cadets strained their ears. The sounds kept coming closer, but presently they died away in the distance, much to the lads’ relief.
Ralph had stopped the engine, but now it was started once more, and again they headed in the direction of Cape Cod, steering, of course, entirely by the compass.
“I’m heading a little to the westward,” announced Ralph. “I don’t want to miss the shore of the Cape and get out into the Atlantic by mistake.”
Less than twenty minutes later they found themselves in more trouble. Again the engine stopped, and once more Ralph and Jack, aided by Gif, began a search for the trouble. They found the supply pipe flowing freely, and then examined the carburetor, and finally looked over the wiring.
“I think it’s in the battery,” said Jack, at last, and when the sparking was tested this proved to be a fact.
The Fancy was equipped with a full set of tools, but, even so, the boys made a long job of getting the motor to run. In the meanwhile, the wind had sprung up again, and they found themselves drifting eastward into the broad and rolling Atlantic.
“Gee, this looks as if we might never get back!” whispered Fred to Randy.
“Don’t say that, Fred, or you’ll have us all scared to death.”
“It wouldn’t be half so bad if we could only see where we are,” put in Andy.
“It would be a great deal better if the fog would lift,” came from Jack. “Then, if we couldn’t get going, we might hoist some sort of signal of distress.”
The wind now came in irregular puffs, and, having lost her headway, the Fancy rolled dreadfully and occasionally shipped considerable water. Several of the boys began to bale the craft while the others continued to work over the battery.
“Hurrah! She’s going!” announced Jack, at last, and all felt something of relief when the engine was again running. Then the craft was turned around and headed once more in the direction of Cape Cod.
With the wind came a regular downpour of rain, yet even this did not serve to dispel the fog entirely. Try their best, none of the boys could see more than four or five yards in any direction. They continued to sound their horn and occasionally use the flashlight.
“We ought to be pretty close to the Cape,” said Jack, as they moved along cautiously.
“That depends,” answered Ralph. “We may have drifted out into the ocean a long distance while we were making repairs.”
“We are certainly having our share of hard luck,” was Gif’s comment. “But, never mind, I guess we’ll be out of it in an hour or two.”
“We can’t get out any too quickly for me,” muttered Spouter, who cared for the water less than any of the others.
Suddenly Fred uttered a cry which was taken up by the twins. All had seen something ahead on their left.
“Looked like a small boat to me,” declared the youngest Rover.
“It was a boat! A motor craft something like this one!” declared Randy.
“And it was loaded with boxes,” put in his twin.
“Why in the name of common sense didn’t they toot a horn, or something?” burst out Ralph. “We might have run right into them!”
“Did you say she was loaded with boxes?” questioned Jack, of his cousin.
“She sure was, Jack.”
“Then maybe she didn’t want to be seen,” answered the young major, grimly. “Those boxes may have been filled with liquor taken from some rum ship standing off the coast. I saw in a newspaper only last week that the rum ships were standing off the coast all the way from Maine to Florida. All they have to do is to keep outside of the legal limit.”
At the alarm given by Fred, Ralph had stopped the engine again. But now the trip was once more resumed.
“If that was a boat carrying liquor from some rum-runner to the shore, perhaps the big vessel isn’t far off,” remarked Jack, a few minutes later.
The words had scarcely left his lips when all on board the motor boat saw that something unusual was going on just ahead of them. Before Ralph could slow down, the Fancy plowed her way between several small boats, and then struck a glancing blow on the bow of a large three-masted schooner.
“Hi! what are you doing there?” came in a bellowing tone from out of the rain and fog.
“It’s a government boat!”
“They’re spying on us!”
“Jump them, boys! Don’t let ’em get away!”
Such were some of the cries uttered by those aboard the strange boats.
In the meanwhile, Ralph had shut off the engine, but the shock of the collision had thrown most of the lads off their feet. Then, before the lads could recover, the Fancy was boarded by half a dozen burly men.