A HEAD WIND.

Chloe and Gertie were the only ones on the key not busily engaged in removing the cargo of the Mermaid and such of her tackle as was of sufficient value to warrant the labor. Even the cook of the tug joined in this work, and the old woman had quite as much as she could do to prepare the meals for this large party.

It was necessary to carry the goods to the water’s edge and then raft them a distance of four or five hundred yards to where the wrecking crafts lay at anchor. The men were divided into two gangs or crews, one of which attended to the water portion of the transportation while the others remained on shore, and Jake and Ben would have joined the first party but for old Chloe’s emphatic protest.

“I’se gwine onto one ob dem ar’ little boats right away ef you an’ Ben fool roun’ in de water,” she said when Jake proposed to “ship as one of the raft crews.”

“What’s the matter, aunty?” the ex-cook of the Sea Queen asked in surprise. “It can’t make any difference where we work.”

“I’se done gone got frou takin’ any resks,” the old woman replied sagely. “Nobody ebber knows what’s gwine to happen, an’ I don’ wan’ ter be lef’ here alone same’s I was on de Cymoon ship.”

It was useless for Jake to explain that there was no possibility that either she or Gertie would be deserted. Chloe remembered only too well the morning when she discovered that she was the only person left on board the brig, and much against his inclination Jake was forced to volunteer for the most laborious portion of the task--that of carrying the hides across the hot sands.

The work which was thus begun continued without intermission, save during the hours of darkness, until two o’clock in the afternoon of the third day, when everything saved from the Mermaid was aboard the wrecking crafts.

On that morning no one thought an attempt would be made to get under weigh for Key West until the following day, even though the task was so nearly accomplished; but before noon there was such a decided change in the weather that the master of the tug and Captain Irwin held a serious consultation.

The wind, which at sunrise was blowing gently from the northwest, increased in violence each hour until it was half a gale by noon, and there was every danger the lighter would be forced onto the shore unless her position was changed. Such a catastrophe meant a total loss of all the goods upon which so much time and labor had been spent, and immediate steps were taken to avert the threatened danger.

The tents were rolled up at once. Ben’s legacy, which came to him with the story of bitter suffering, was carried to the steamer in the box where it had remained so long, and before the last of the wreckage was loaded on the lighter, old Chloe and Gertie were notified that the time for leaving Content Key had arrived.

This work of embarkation, which could have been so easily accomplished a few hours previous, was now not only difficult, but, in the old negress’ eyes, extremely dangerous, and nothing but Captain Irwin’s sternly uttered threat that she should be left behind caused her to make the slightest effort toward helping herself. Instead of a placid sea the foam-crested waves were rolling inland with very nearly the same fury as on the day after the norther, and the heavily laden vessel was tossed about on them until the stout hawsers were strained to their utmost tension.

A boat from the steamer was brought around to the eastern end of the key, where the surf was least furious, and to this point Aunt Chloe, Gertie, with the cat in her arms, Jake and Ben bent their steps, the old woman declaring with many a groan and pious ejaculation that she should never be able to reach the tug alive and safe.

“You won’t by standin’ here howlin’, that’s certain,” Jake said when they were on the beach, and the sailors, knee-deep in the sea, eager to conclude what they evidently considered a very disagreeable duty. “Ben an’ I’ll swing you aboard in a jiffy if you’ll try to help yourself the least bit.”

“I’se done gone gwine ter wait till de wind is frou blowin’,” and, forgetting Captain Irwin’s threat, the old woman seated herself on the sand with a grim look of determination written on her black features.

“You’ll have to wait a long spell if you don’t get aboard lively,” one of the men shouted. “Our captain won’t fool ’round a great while with the wind kickin’ up such a bobbery, an’ we’ve got to start mighty quick or this trip will count for nothin’.”

It was as if Aunt Chloe had not heard a word, for she made no attempt to change her position, and Jake said in a low tone to Ben:

“Take hold with me, lad, an’ never mind how much she yells.”

Then, before the old woman had time to understand what was being done, Ben and Jake seized her much as if she was simply an unwieldy piece of merchandise, and despite the shrill, vigorous screams, deposited her in the stern of the small boat, where she sat bolt upright in silent wrath until Gertie and the cat were taken aboard.

Not a word did she speak when, after tossing about on the angry-looking waves nearly half an hour, during which both Gertie and Ben were decidedly frightened, they arrived at the tug. Here a rope was fastened securely under her arms, and as the little craft fell in the hollow of the waves Aunt Chloe was pulled aboard like a big fish, her black face alternately exhibiting the utmost alarm and anger, but not a sound escaped her lips.

It was necessary to treat the children in the same manner, owing to the heavy seas, and by the time this was accomplished the last of the cargo had been transferred to the wrecking crafts.

The most inexperienced would have understood now that there was no time to be lost. The steamer was dancing about like a cork, flinging the waves high over her bow, or plunging into them until the deck was awash, and straining at the hempen cables which held her to the heavy lighter whose anchors were yet down. The hoarse panting of the steam-pipes, the sharp cries of command, and the trampling to and fro told the journey was about to be begun, and that no slight amount of danger would attend it could be seen from the faces of all.

Chloe, Gertie, Ben and the cat had been given quarters in a tiny cabin at the after part of the tug, and while the old woman remained seated on the floor like a charcoal statue of fear, the two children clung to the window-casing, for the violent plunging of the little craft rendered it difficult to retain a standing position, looking out at the sailors who were making every effort to get under weigh in the least possible space of time.

The lighter had her regular crew of four men on board, and when both hawsers were overhauled they set about raising the anchors, the tug starting instantly the last one left the ground.

With a clank and jar, and mighty breathing of steam, the powerful engines begun to do their work; but the strong head-wind which was rapidly increasing to a full gale, as well as the heavy load behind, prevented any very great speed. As a matter of fact both the watchers in the cabin thought during the first ten minutes that it would be impossible for the small steamer to drag the unwieldy craft away from the reef; but slowly the two forged ahead, the waves dashing over and against them as if determined that neither should escape their fury.

Captain Irwin was in the pilot-house, Jake remained in the cook-room, and with Chloe terrified into silence, it seemed to Gertie and Ben as if they were alone watching this conflict between the forces of nature and man’s handiwork.

“If this grows any worse what will become of the tug?” Gertie asked, trying hard to repress a shudder of fear. “The waves are coming over her worse than they ever did over the Sea Queen.”

“It looks as if there was going to be a pretty bad storm,” Ben replied cautiously, not caring to reveal the full extent of his anxiety; “but I guess she’ll get through safe enough. You see a tug-boat is built strong, an’ so long as her machinery holds she can go where the Sea Queen wouldn’t have much show.”

The sound of the children’s voices so far reassured old Chloe that she managed, despite the violent pitching and plunging of the steamer, to make her way to one of the stationary arm-chairs, and after clambering into this she was fully occupied trying to remain in the seat, a task by no means easy of accomplishment when the tug would straighten the hawsers with a snap and sudden stop that on two occasions sent the cat rolling across the floor like a foot-ball.

Three hours passed and yet the two children remained at the window as if fascinated by the scene, which grew more wild and tempestuous each moment, and when the gloom of the coming night caused the laboring lighter to look like little more than a shadow against the darker background, Captain Irwin came into the cabin, greatly to Ben’s relief.

“Why don’t you light up here?” he asked cheerily as, after quite a severe struggle, he succeeded in closing the door. “The storm won’t seem so bad if you can’t look out on the water.”

“I never thought of lamps,” Ben said with a long-drawn sigh. “Gertie and I were watching the lighter. Do you think this boat can tow her?”

“If the storm increases, as it threatens to do now, I’m afraid we shall have to cast her adrift,” the captain replied in a low tone. “We are only barely holding our own now, and a full head of steam on. With more wind she would soon succeed in dragging us back to the shoals of Content Key.”

“How will they get the crew off?” Gertie asked inquiringly.

“There is no possibility of doing that. If it becomes necessary to let go the hawsers they must take their chances like any other sailors in a storm; but we won’t talk about that until it has to be done.”

Then Captain Irwin lighted the swinging-lamp; but the tiny flame looked anything rather than cheerful to the occupants of the cabin as they thought of the four men who might soon be abandoned to their fate. Not for an instant did their minds dwell upon the possible pecuniary loss, which was as nothing compared with the sacrifice of human life.

Outside the wind shrieked and howled as if calling all its forces together that a combined assault might be made upon the laboring vessels. Now and then the waves would strike the panting tug a blow which caused her to quiver from stem to stern, and then remain motionless for a second like some frightened animal who seeks in vain a way of escape from relentless enemies.

“How near have we got to Key West?” Gertie asked after a long pause.

“We’ve hardly started, my child. During the last two hours no headway has been made, and our island is probably not more than ten or twelve miles astern.”

“’Pears like we’se nebber gwine ter get away frum dat wuffless place,” Aunt Chloe said, speaking for the first time since coming aboard so unceremoniously.

“If we can hold our own to-night I reckon it will----”

The captain ceased speaking very suddenly, for at that instant a series of piercing whistles was heard from the steam-pipe, and he knew it was the signal agreed upon that the crew of the lighter might understand they were to be abandoned.

An instant later the trampling of many feet sounded on the deck, and Jake burst into the room, the wind slamming the door behind him with a report like a pistol-shot.

“All our work is to count for nothin’!” he cried. “They’re goin’ to cut the lighter adrift, an’ we can whistle for the salvage.”

“God have mercy on her crew!” Captain Irwin said devoutly as he went on deck, and an instant later the sound of axes was heard as the heavy hawsers were cut apart.

“Are those poor fellows to be left to drown?” Gertie asked with quivering lip.

“We couldn’t help them if they were in the water this very minute,” Jake replied, “but about the drownin’ part I ain’t so sure. If they’ve got any sense, I don’t see what’s to hinder ’em from runnin’ up the gulf. The lighter is loaded so deep that she won’t make a great deal of leeway, an’ though I ain’t the sailor that I am cook, I’d know enough to try a close-reefed mainsail an’ jib.”

Ben pressed his face against the glass in the vain hope of learning what steps the abandoned men were taking to aid themselves, but the gloom of evening and the smother of spray prevented him from seeing even those who were at work just outside.

A decided change in the motion of the steamer as she plunged down one wave and up another without that sickening, sudden halt which had so impeded her headway, told that the unwieldy craft was no longer towing astern. Unless an accident should happen to the machinery the tug could ride out the gale in safety, but what would be the fate of those who had been abandoned the little party in the cabin could only conjecture. The shoals of Content Key were yet so near that the lighter might strike before her crew were able to show the smallest piece of canvas to the wind, and in that event their doom would surely be sealed.

It was a time when the most cheering words fail to give comfort, and the four who twice previously had been tossed about on the gulf at the mercy of wind and wave, remained silent and affrighted, waiting for the night, which had but just begun, to come to an end.