Were in good company, said Henry Burns, laughing. But Im glad Jack isnt near enough to stir him up.
Evening came on, and the little fleet resembled a village afloat, with the tiny wreaths of smoke curling up from the cabin-funnels. The night was clear overhead and the hills of Loon Island shone purple in the waning sunlight, streaked here and there with broad patches of black shadow. The ground-swell broke upon the reef heavily, sending up a shower of spray high in air, weird and grimly beautiful in the twilight.
Thats good music to sleep by, said Bob, as the booming from the reef came to their ears while they sat at supper.
Yes, its all right on a night like this, assented Harvey. Youll sleep as sound as in the tent.
It grew dark, and the little fleet set its lanterns, though it was mere conformance to custom in this case, since no craft ever made a thoroughfare where they lay.
What do you think? asked Henry Burns two hours later, as he and Harvey stood outside, taking a survey of the sea and sky, and making sure once more that their anchor-rope was clear and well hitched What do you think, Jack, do we need to keep watch?
He had quite a bump of caution for a youth who did not hesitate at times to do things that others considered reckless.
Oh, its still as a mill-pond, replied Harvey. Weve had the clearing-off blow, and there are the clouds banking up off to southward, where the breeze will come from in the morning. See, there isnt a man out on any of the other boats. No, well just turn in and sleep like kittens in a basket.
So they went below.
The roaring of the reef was, in truth, a not all unpleasant sound to those who felt safe and snug in its lee, securely anchored. To be sure, there was a grim suggestion in the crashing of the swell against its hollows and angles at first, but the steady repetition of this became in time almost monotonous. There was the heavy, roaring, thudding sound, as the swell surged in against its firm base. Then this blended into a crisp rushing, as the waters raced along its sides; and then a crash as of shattered glass as the mass thrown up broke in mid-air and fell back in countless fragments of white, frothing water upon the cold rocks.
The boys went off to sleep with this ceaseless play of the waters in their ears.
The hours of the night passed one by one. And if any boy aboard the Viking roused up through their passing and heard the surf-play upon the reef, there was no more menace in it than before. Just the same steady hammering of water upon rock.
Yet Harveys prophecy of sound sleep was not wholly borne out at least, in the case of Henry Burns. He was a good sleeper under ordinary conditions, but he roused up several times and listened to the wash of the seas.
It may be grand music, he muttered once, drowsily, but I cant say I like it quite so near.
Something awoke him again an hour later. His perception of it as he half-sat up was that it sounded like something grating against the side of the Viking .
He sat still for a moment and listened. The sound was not repeated.
I thought I heard something alongside, he said aloud, but talking to himself. Did you hear anything, Jack? he inquired in a louder tone, as Harvey stirred uneasily.
There was no reply. Harvey had not wakened.
Hm! guess Ive got what my aunt calls the fidgets, muttered Henry Burns, rolling up in his blanket once more. Its that confounded reef. No, its no use. I dont like the sound of it at night. Pshaw! Ill go to sleep,
though, and forget it.
Something just alongside the Viking that looked surprisingly like a dory, with some sort of a figure crouched down in it, and which may or may not have caused the sound that had awakened Henry Burns, lay quiet there for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, a good half-hour in all. Then it moved away from the side of the boat, passed on ahead for a moment, and stole softly away over the waves.
The booming of the seas upon the reefs! How the hollow roar of it sounded far over the waters. How the thin wisps of spray, like so much smoke, shot up through the darkness, white and ghostlike!
A strange phenomenon! But if by chance there had been some shipwrecked man clinging to that reef, he might have fancied that the rocks to which he clung were drifting in the sea strangely shifting ground and drawing up closer to a yacht at anchor.
Or was it something different? Was the yacht really no longer lying anchor-bound? And was it drifting, drifting slowly down upon the rocks, soon to be lifted high upon a crest of the ground-swell and then to be dropped down heavily upon one of the streaming, foam-covered points of ledge?
Crash and crash again! Was it louder and heavier than before?
Henry Burnss eyes opened wearily.
The sound of the sea seemed stunning. What was it about the noise that seemed more fearful, more terrifying, more dreadful than before?
He sprang up now. Yes, there could be no doubt. Something was wrong. The sea rising, perhaps. The wind blowing up. There it came, again and again. It was louder and louder still. A mind works slowly brought quickly from sleep; but Henry Burns was wide awake now.