As may be imagined, Jim felt very wide awake when he staggered to his feet, after being thrown so violently against Walter that both rolled to the floor, and his first thought was that all the trouble had originated in the engine-room.

The escaping steam enveloped both brig and tug in a fog-like vapor so dense as to be almost stifling, and for several moments it was impossible to distinguish objects a dozen feet distant.

That the old sailor had gained the Bonita's deck with wonderful celerity could be told from the shouts of inquiry which he uttered in rapid succession; and before the first bewilderment, caused by the shock, had passed away, Jim was outside the pilot-house trying to answer the questions.

"Steamer ahoy! What's the matter?" Bob shouted.

"I don't know; but it seems as if the tug has exploded somewhere!"

"That can't be if she's still afloat," Bob cried testily, and from the sound of his voice Jim knew he was making his way toward the rail.

"I must have fallen asleep for a second, an' was awakened by bein' knocked down," Jim said penitently.

At that instant a dark figure could be seen coming from the engine-room, and a faint voice cried:

"One of the boiler-tubes blew out when we struck the rock. Somebody must help draw the fires, for I'm burned pretty bad about the arms and face."

"Struck a rock?" Bob shouted fiercely, as he made his way toward Joe, who had retreated aft to free his lungs of the deadly vapor. "Are we aground, Jim?"

"Not that I know of," the young fisherman replied in a tone of bewilderment. "My eyes couldn't have been shut more'n a minute; an' there was nothin' in sight when I closed 'em."

"Get out the lead-line while I see if Joe is hurt very much."

The steam was yet pouring from the engine-room in such volumes as to prevent a view from either side, and Jim groped his way to the brig, Walter following close at his heels like one dazed. Master Libby remembered having seen the lead-line under the port rail forward, and but a short search was necessary to find it. Fully expecting they were yet in deep water, he reeled off twenty fathoms or more before casting, and to his surprise the greater portion remained on the rail instead of slipping through his fingers.

"Why, we're – we're on a shoal!" he stammered as he pulled in the cord until the weight could be felt. "There isn't much more than two fathoms out."

"An' as the brig don't draw less'n fourteen or fifteen feet, we can count on your havin' slept pretty nigh through the whole watch!" Bob said sharply.

Jim made no reply. He realized now that his eyes must have been closed many minutes instead of one, and was well aware that all which had happened was the result of his own carelessness.

"I'm in for it now," he whispered disconsolately to Walter. "Even if Bob don't use up a rope's end on my back I'll know that by goin' to sleep I've shut off our chances of gettin' home."

"I must be just as much to blame as you," Walter replied, in a trembling voice. "My business was to stand watch, and the very first thing I did was to go to sleep."

"But I had the helm, you see, an' oughter kept the sharpest lookout. I wish Bob would turn to an' give me the worst whalin' I ever got, 'cause it seems as if it might make me feel better."

"Can't we get the brig off somehow?" Walter asked with a sob.

"Seein's how the crew's so slim it don't seem very likely, an' everybody will say I cast 'em away when we was sure of gettin' home."

"They'll have to say the same of me," Walter added, as if this thought might give his companion some consolation. "Let's go an' have it out right away."

With clasped hands the two boys walked aft, fully expecting to receive a terrible punishment for their almost criminal carelessness; but no blows, however severe, could have caused as much pain as was already in their hearts.

Time was too precious just then for the old sailor to spend any with the authors of this last trouble, even had he been so disposed. Matters in the engine-room required immediate attention, and Joe was ready to venture amid the scalding vapor once more; therefore he followed, to render all possible assistance.

"Bend your head low, and keep this bit of waste over your mouth," the engineer said, thrusting a roll of cotton-threads in the sailor's hand as he went below.

The engine-room was filled with steam, to breathe which would be severe agony, if not death; but neither of the brave fellows faltered. By keeping their faces covered as much as possible they were able to continue on, groping their way amid what would have seemed like a dense fog but for the intense heat, while the roaring of steam as it escaped gave warning of further disaster if precautionary measures were much longer delayed.

Bob was unfamiliar with the interior of the tug; therefore it was necessary the engineer should lead the way, and after no slight trouble they succeeded in reaching the boiler from which the vapor was pouring in clouds.

The most important work was to draw the fires, and by following Joe's example Bob so far aided in this that five minutes later the glowing coals were in the ash-pan or strewn on the cement flooring immediately in front of the furnace door.

Short though this time was, it seemed very long in such a place, and ten seconds after the task had been accomplished the two were leaning over the rail aft, drinking in long draughts of pure, cool air.

When they had recovered from the effects of the heat sufficiently to pay attention to their surroundings, it was possible to see where Jim's carelessness had brought the brig and tug. The steam had thinned down until it hardly obstructed their view, and at the same time day had been approaching so rapidly that near-by objects could be plainly distinguished.

The brig was on a level keel in the cove of a small island, or key, the low-lying land, which was covered with luxuriant vegetation, hardly more than three hundred yards distant in either direction. Had Jim tried to steer her into this sheltered spot he could not have done it more exactly; and the fact that she would lie there without thumping, except when the wind blew from the east, was the only bit of comfort Bob could extract from the situation.

The boys were on the Bonita's forecastle silently gazing at the odd foliage everywhere around, while Joe and the old sailor stood on the after deck of the tug, the latter saying, as he concluded a long survey of the scene:

"It might be worse, for a fact; but I reckon both crafts will be tied up here till we're sick of lookin' at mangrove trees."

"Where do you suppose we are?" Joe asked.

"This must be some part of the Bahamas. Look at the keys all around. There is but one other place anywhere near the spot we oughter be which shows up like it, an' that is the Florida reefs. We couldn't a' made them without sightin' Cuba or the Bahamas, consequently we must be further to the nor'ard."

"Should we be near any seaport?"

"Nassau is somewhere about; but it may be two or three hundred miles away, an' seein's how I can't take an observation, we wouldn't know whether it was north or south. Did you get burned very bad?"

"I thought so at first," Joe replied with a laugh; "but I guess it's only skin deep – more painful than serious."

"You got out of it luckily; how can the engine be patched up again?"

"If no more damage has been done than the blowing out of a tube I will soon have it in working order."

"We'll get something to eat, and then see what's to be done. Jim!" he added, raising his voice, "cook the best breakfast you know how, to make up for this mess you've brought us into."

Master Libby, who had been expecting a sound rating at the very least, because of his carelessness, was so thoroughly surprised at the friendly tone that he lost no time in obeying this order, and, as a partial atonement for his misdeeds, prepared a meal which in quantity and variety would have been sufficient for twenty hungry men.

The sorrow which all hands felt because of the disaster did not prevent them from doing full justice to the unskillfully prepared food, and the table had been relieved of a large portion of its burden before any attempt at conversation was made.

"While you're seein' how much damage has been done to the tug, me an' the boys will get an anchor out aft so's the brig can't work further inshore." Bob said to the engineer. "If you can get up steam, an' the tug's afloat, it oughtn't take very long to pull us off this sand-bank."

"So far as I know it's only a case of blowing out one of the tubes," Joe replied.

"Can it be fixed without much work?"

"Yes, by driving in a piece of soft wood to hold the steam; but of course it'll make no end of bother until it is repaired properly. For a job like pulling the Bonita off the mud a plug will be as serviceable as a new tube, which can't be had until we reach some port."

"Then you're to find out exactly what's needed, an' after the brig is in deep water agin we can lay here a day or two to get things ship-shape. Perhaps some craft will come in sight, an' we'll be able to find out just where we are."

"I'll let you know – "

Joe stopped speaking suddenly as what sounded very like a human voice rang out on the still air, and in obedience to his gesture all listened intently until it was repeated.

"Brig ahoy! ahoy!"

Bob actually looked alarmed. He had believed the key to be uninhabited, and, knowing there was no craft in sight when they came below, all his superstitious fears were aroused by the cry. Just for an instant he hesitated, as if not daring to go on deck, and then ran up the companion-ladder, closely followed by the remainder of the party.

Surely there was nothing in that which met their gaze to cause alarm. On the shore stood three men, and when the old sailor made his appearance one of them repeated the hail.

"Ahoy on shore," he replied.

"Send a boat, will you? Our craft went away leaving us here, and we've been cooped up on this island nearly a week."

"It won't do much good for us to take you aboard. We're hard and fast aground."

"Somethin' to eat is what we're wantin' pretty bad," the man on shore cried; and Bob said, as he turned to Joe:

"I reckon we oughter go after 'em; but somehow I don't jes' believe his yarn."

"Why not?"

"'Cause there's no reason why an honest vessel would stop here long enough for her crew to go ashore; an' then, agin, they haven't got a sailor cut about 'em."

Having thus given words to his suspicions, Bob set about lowering the Trade Wind's yawl with as much alacrity as if some one in sore distress stood in need of their services, and five minutes later he and Joe were rowing ashore.

The strangers stepped into the boat the instant her bow grated on the sand with the air of persons who are conferring rather than receiving a favor, and making no attempt to push the craft into deep water.

"It's a sailor's rule for the last aboard to shove off," Bob said with just a shade of anger in his tone, and the man in the bow leaped ashore to perform that duty, after which the yawl was pulled toward the brig.

The three boys were standing at the rail forward watching all which occurred, but saying nothing until the boat was near enough to admit of their seeing the strangers clearly. Then Jim whispered:

"That's what I call a mighty hard-lookin' crowd, an' I don't wonder Bob says they haven't got the sailor cut. I wouldn't like to meet either one of 'em alone in the dark."

Two of the three strangers appeared to be Americans, but of a disagreeable type, while the third was unmistakably a Mexican; and it was this last upon whom Jim looked with the most suspicion.

There was no further opportunity for him to criticise them, however, since the boat was rapidly approaching the brig, and Bob had already shouted:

"Heave that gangway-ladder over, an' then set about gettin' up another breakfast."

The first order was quickly obeyed, and Jim went into the galley to comply with the second as the new-comers stepped on board and halted near the mainmast to gaze curiously around, as if taking a mental inventory of the brig's general condition.

CHAPTER XI.
THE STRANGERS

The new-comers were by no means pre-possessing in appearance, and would hardly have inspired confidence even had their manners been more agreeable.

He who acted as spokesman for the party was a stout man with a very long body and short, bowed legs, that caused him to roll to and fro like a ship in a gale when he walked. It was his nose which attracted the most attention, for it was not only the most prominent feature of a not remarkably pleasing-looking countenance, but so enlarged and red at the end that one could well fancy he had fastened a boiled beet to his face as a partial disguise.

The other American was exactly the reverse in form and feature. He was tall and thin, with a sickly yellow complexion and a little snub nose which looked as if made of putty for a much smaller face – one that might have been bought at auction because it was cheap, if noses could ever be sold.

The Mexican would answer for a type of that class known as "greasers," save for the fact that he had discarded his national costume in favor of a dirty pair of duck trousers and a blue flannel shirt.

In the boys' eyes, at least, the three appeared more like hardened villains than honest sailors; and this opinion was strengthened rather than lessened when they were better known.

Although Bob doubted the story they told, he had no proof that it was false; therefore he treated them as if believing every word, and as the first move toward ministering to their alleged necessities had ordered Jim to prepare breakfast.

As a matter of fact, the account which these men gave of themselves was such as could not well be questioned in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

They were a portion of the crew of a turtling-schooner hailing from Nassau; so the red-nosed man had said during the short pull from the beach to the brig. Five days previous their craft put into this cove, and they, with two others, came ashore to search for turtles. At this work they followed around the shore of the key until so far away that night came on before the return journey could be made.

The other two men had traveled in an opposite direction, consequently they were alone, but not at all disquieted at being forced to remain over night on the island, because in their business such incidents were of frequent occurrence. With never a thought of trouble they made themselves comfortable in the thicket, returning to the cove as soon as possible after sunrise.

To their great surprise the schooner was no longer there, nor could the other members of the crew be found. They had been deserted; but why, neither of the party could even so much as guess. The Bonita and the tug were the first crafts the men had seen, and, quite naturally, they lost no time in hailing the crew.

Jim was not an expert cook; therefore the work in the galley was done very slowly. It would have been nearly noon before the second meal could be served had not Harry and Walter assisted to the extent of making the table ready, and afterward carrying the food below.

Bob and Joe had gone about their task of ascertaining the exact condition of the brig in order to form plans for floating her, and Jim was forced to announce breakfast when his culinary labors were ended.

"You've been about it long enough to cook dinner for the President!" the man with the red nose said, in a surly tone. "If I was the skipper of this 'ere brig I'll find a way to make you more lively!"

"Well, so long as you ain't the skipper, but only a sailor what says he's starvin' to death, s'posin' you buckle down to the grub that's cooked, so's I can get the cabin cleaned up!" Jim replied saucily; and before the words were hardly out of his mouth he received a blow on the side of his head which sent him reeling against the rail.

Then, as if the uncalled-for punishment had been a kindly reward for services performed, the red-nosed man led the way below, followed by his companions, who seemed to think that gentleman's method of treating their hosts was something very comical.

Jim was too much surprised to make any outcry. After looking around to learn if Bob had been a witness of the injury he retreated to the galley, soothing his anger by shaking his fist in the direction of the cabin.

"You jes' wait," he muttered, seating himself on an empty mess-kid where he could nurse his sore face. "You jes' wait an' see if I don't fix the whole crowd! Talk about bein' sailors an' then cuffin' the cook when you're goin' to eat aft! I'll bet not one of them villains knows how to reef a jib, an' before they leave this vessel I'll show what I can do."

It is not probable that Jim had any very clear idea as to what kind of punishment he would mete out to this man who had struck him without provocation; but he believed an opportunity of avenging his wrongs would present itself in the near future, and this thought had a wonderfully soothing effect.

Harry and Walter, as attendants upon the guests, were treated with no more consideration than that shown Jim. When the men seated themselves at the table, both boys went toward the companion-way as if to go on deck; but the thin man cried gruffly:

"Stay here, you young cubs! We may need somethin' more, an' in that case you're to bring it!"

Just for an instant Harry glanced at Walter, as if questioning whether they should obey, and then, evidently concluding discretion was the better part of valor, he retreated to one corner of the cabin, where he would be ready to obey the commands of these strange guests.

During the next ten minutes the men ate voraciously – not as if they had been on the verge of starvation, but like pigs; and at the end of that time he with the red nose asked, as he rested both elbows on the table and picked his teeth with a fork:

"Where does this brig hail from?"

"I don't know," Walter replied, after waiting in vain for Harry to speak.

"Don't know? Haven't you got sense enough to tell where you come from?"

"We belong in New York. While we were at the Isle of Shoals, Jim and Harry and I rowed out to the brig, and found her abandoned. Then the wind sprung up and she ran away with us."

"Where did the old sailor come aboard?" the man asked, after exchanging glances with his companions.

Walter told him in the fewest possible words how Bob had become a member of the party, and also in what condition the Sea Bird was when Joe linked his fortunes with theirs.

"How happened it that you run ashore here?" the Mexican asked, and this question Harry answered.

"Then you've got no more right aboard this craft than we have," the first speaker said, "an' I reckon we'll stick by the ship. Do you know where there's any tobacco?"

"No, I haven't seen a piece except that which Bob has."

"Then hunt for some. In a well-found craft like this there's sure to be plenty."

"We don't know anything about it, and do not intend to look!" Harry said decidedly, as he retreated toward the companion-way, taking up his stand directly in front of Walter.

"I'll have to give you a lesson, the same's I did the other fellow!" the red-nosed man cried in an angry tone. "Are you goin' to obey orders?"

"I'm willing to do any necessary work, but I don't intend to wait upon you!" and Harry tried very hard to prevent his voice from trembling.

"That's jes' what you will do!" the man cried, as if beside himself with passion, and seizing a plate from the table he hurled it with better intent than aim directly at the boys, grasping another the instant the first had left his hands.

The second he did not throw, however. As the crockery was shivered into fragments against the companion-ladder, passing within an inch of Harry's head, Bob appeared at the hatchway.

"What's goin' on in here?" he asked sternly.

"Them boys were givin' us some of their impudence, an' I was showin' 'em the proper place aboard ship, that's all," the red-nosed man replied in a mild, friendly tone, as if he had simply been doing his host a favor.

"Look here, my friend," and it could be plainly seen that Bob was trying hard to control his temper. "It won't be well for you to show any one on this craft what his place is. We took you aboard believin' you were sailors an' starvin'; but we'll set the whole lot adrift mighty quick if I see any more of this kind of work." Then turning to the boys, he added, "Go on deck or stay here, as you choose; but don't play servant to a single person on the brig."

"I allow you're lookin' at this matter wrong," the thin man said in a conciliatory tone, as Harry and Walter ascended the companion-ladder. "We haven't said or done anything out of the way. How was we to know but they was the reg'lar cabin-boys, an' when they insulted us jes' 'cause we'd lost our vessel an' luck was agin us, we only did what you would."

As a matter of course, Bob was not absolutely certain but that there might be some truth in the man's statement, although from what he knew of Harry and Walter it did not seem probable; therefore he said, with less show of anger:

"We'll let the matter drop; but you must understand that the boys are to be treated as I am. The one who acts as cook has been to sea a little, and can stand harder work than the others, who were never on board a vessel before. Neither of 'em are to be bossed or scolded, for all do what they can willingly, an' I'm standin' right by 'em. Now that you've had somethin' to eat, an' ain't sufferin', what do you propose doin'?"

"You're short-handed, even if you had only the brig to look after; so what's to hinder our workin' a passage to sich port as you calculate on makin'?" and the red-nosed man spoke very humbly.

"We reckon on leavin' the tug here," Bob replied gravely. "She's aground, an' what's worse, bunged up so bad that three weeks wouldn't be any too long for repairs. 'Cordin' to my figgerin' the brig can be floated reasonably easy; an' with Joe Taylor aboard I can run her to the mainland pretty nigh as quick as if we had more of a crew."

"Do you mean that you don't care about takin' us along?" the slim man asked.

Bob hesitated an instant, hardly caring to say plainly that he had no desire for their company, and then he replied:

"It ain't wholly as I say. Considerin' what has been done, an' that the Sea Bird was disabled through the carelessness of one of my party, Joe has got as much interest here as I, an' he'd have to agree."

"Does he make any objection to helping us out of this hole if we're willing to do our full share of work?" the Mexican asked.

"I don't say he does, 'cause, you see, we haven't made any talk about sich a plan."

"Then find out jes' what he's willin' to do;" and the thin man spoke very earnestly. "We'll agree to obey orders like as if we'd signed articles, an' before the brig reaches the coast you'll be mighty glad of our help."

"Do you know what island this is?" Bob asked as if desiring to change the conversation.

"It's one of the Double-Breasted Keys," the thin man replied.

"On the Bahama Bank?"

"Yes; pretty nigh the northern point of the shoal."

"Then we're not more than three days' sail from Nassau?"

"About that; but you can't get in without a pilot, an' it ain't much further to some port in the United States."

To this Bob made no reply, but turned as if to leave the cabin when the Mexican stopped him by asking:

"Will you say whether we are to be given a passage, or must we go ashore to starve?"

"I'll talk the matter over with Joe. If he's agreed I won't say a word ag'in it, though I'd much rather take the brig in alone." And then Bob hurried up the companion-ladder, as if eager to escape from his guests.

When the three men were alone their entire bearing changed, and the one with a red nose said in a whisper, as he shook his fist threateningly in the direction Bob had vanished:

"We'll whine 'round only till the brig's afloat, an' then if we can't get away in her, leavin' that crowd behind, we deserve to stay!"

"And when we do have a craft of our own we'll pay off some old scores to that meddlin' fool who broke up our little game in Nassau!" the thin man added.

"It will be well if we do not show our hand too quickly," the Mexican said. "Without even so much as a revolver, we cannot hold possession in case they should decide to set us ashore."

"What a coward you are!" And he with the red nose spoke in a tone of contempt. "There are only two of them, for the boys don't count, an' marlin'-spikes or belayin'-pins comes as cheap to us as any one else. If we wanted to drive that crowd over the rail it wouldn't be very hard work, unless we two was the same chicken-hearted lubbers you are!"

The Mexican turned upon his heel as if the conversation was decidedly too personal; but he made no attempt to resent the insult, and the thin man said, in a soothing tone:

"You're talkin' sense now, pardner; but we need them fellers worse'n they do us. The brig must be afloat before anything is done."

"Of course she must. You don't think I'm sich a fool as not to think of them tricks. Leave me to boss the job, an' it won't be many hours till we have everything our own way."

Then the three men went on deck apparently the most honest sailors to be found on the sea; and from his place of refuge in the galley Jim watched them distrustfully.