for three days beck, duncan and ray’s uncle vance were in a precarious state. the men had spent most of their energy in battling for their lives after the wreck of the fish hawk and it was very fortunate that they possessed the fine strong bodies they did or they would never have rallied at all. in truth, all three were taken from the whaleboat more dead than alive, and when they were carried up to the lighthouse captain eli was almost certain that none would live over night.
the three rooms in captain eli’s cottage were devoted to hospital purposes and jack and ray and mr. warner shared the bunk-house with the rest of the crew for the time. old mitchell, the lobsterman, and captain eli took turns as physician and nurse to the unfortunate swordfishermen and worked diligently to restore them to normal health. daily jack and[233] either mr. warner or big o’brien visited the cottage to learn how the patients fared, and on several occasions they entered the sickrooms and tried to cheer up the men. but ray, for reasons of his own, would not accompany them.
indeed, since the day he saved his uncle from drowning ray had been acting very peculiarly. he seemed undetermined what to do and jack and mr. warner could not help sympathizing with him. somehow, seeing his uncle close to the point of death, had made the lad forgive him for his past brutality. in truth, his heart had softened to the point where he would have been quite willing to do anything he could for the old swordfisherman. but though his intentions were good, he was quite timid in carrying them out, for, as he explained to jack, he was not sure how his kinsman would receive him. for that reason he refrained from going near his uncle’s bedside or communicating with him in any way. he satisfied himself by visiting the cottage occasionally and inquiring from mitchell or captain eli as to the state of his uncle’s health.
the lightkeeper and the fisherman proved efficient physicians, however, for they rallied[234] the men gradually and by the end of the week had them so that they could hobble downstairs and sit out in front of the cottage in the sunshine. duncan and beck seemed to regain their strength faster than ray’s uncle, and in a short time after their first appearance downstairs they were going about the camp as hale and hearty as ever. vance carroll, however, did not find his strength as rapidly as the younger men, and for many a day he went hobbling about with the assistance of a cane which captain eli loaned him.
as soon as the storm had subsided the camp turned its attention to repairing the damage that the breakers had done out there on cobra head. the steel tower of the cableway needed repairing, new derricks had to be erected, new tool boxes constructed, and tremendous quantities of kelp and rockweed cleared away before the men could begin their building where they had left off before the storm. of course, with these added tasks to be accomplished, jack and ray found that their duties increased in proportion. they, too, were very hard at work carrying out little details that mr. warner entrusted to them.
[235]
by the end of the second week following the storm, however, things were in excellent shape to resume work on the lighthouse structure, and after that there came a brief breathing spell for mr. warner and his two young assistants.
this was just what ray had hoped for. he had been waiting all this time to show mr. warner his precious lifeboat model which he had brought through the storm from mitchell’s house that day the fish hawk struck. before taking part in the rescue he had shoved the two-foot tin model between the big blocks of granite on the top of the promontory and left it there until he found time to get it out and look it over. a few days after the storm he had brought it to the office shanty, but he had made no effort to show it to the engineer until he was certain that the man had time enough to go into every detail with him.
the first day that the rush of work let up and ray found mr. warner strolling through the camp enjoying his early morning pipe, the boy asked him if he would not spare a few moments in the office with him.
jack was already there doing some work that[236] he had left undone the day before, but when ray brought mr. warner in, and a few moments later unearthed the lifeboat model from beneath a dozen rolls of discarded blue prints that had been tossed in one corner of the room, the lad from drueryville put his work aside and stopped to listen.
mr. warner examined the curious little craft from all angles and paid strict attention while ray explained the details of the idea. and after he had ceased talking the engineer was silent for some time while he scrutinized the metal boat more closely. then finally he put the model on the table and exclaimed:
“by george, ray, you’re a clever chap. i believe you have a corking scheme here, too. i’ll tell you what i’ll do. i’ll help you get patents on it and then i’ll see that it gets into the hands of a friend of mine who is in the metallic boat building business. i’ve an idea he might be able to do something with it.”
“say, will you?” cried ray enthusiastically, “great! perhaps i’ll be able to go to school after all. it—ah—”
“tut, tut, son. don’t get too excited about[237] the prospects. remember, i didn’t say that you would get rich. it may not be a success, or—oh, a dozen things may happen to spoil the possibility of your getting any money out of it. mighty few inventors ever get rich anyway. it is even possible that you can’t get a patent on it, for some one may have thought of the idea long ago. you’ll find when you get older that it is not an easy matter to get a device through the patent office. many a man has spent a fortune and valuable time on an idea only to have it knocked on the head by some little detail.
“there’s the man who invented the periscope of the submarine, for instance. he worked out the contrivance and tried to have it patented only to find, after two years of hard work, that the government would not allow a patent on it because some frenchman, a long time before, had written a visionary story in which a device, similar to the one he had invented, had been suggested. the frenchman had never tried to build his instrument, but, nevertheless, the patent office in washington would not allow a patent on the practical appliance[238] on the ground that it had been exploited before, and the inventor died a poor man, when he should have been wealthy.”
“that was hard luck,” said ray; “but anyway, i’m mighty glad to find some one who will take enough interest in my work to try and help me. i have always—”
at this point came a violent thump-thump-thumping in the front room of the office, indicating that some one with a wooden appendage was approaching. all three looked up, expecting old mitchell to come through the door. they were not mistaken. the old lobsterman hobbled into the room, a broad grin wrinkling his face. but following immediately behind him was ray’s uncle vance!
for a moment every one was silent! the situation was tense, for this was the first time that ray and his kinsman had come face to face since the day, months before, when big o’brien had administered a liberal trouncing to the swordfisherman. ray turned white and became very nervous, and jack, for the moment, was breathless. but before either of the lads could speak vance carroll strode[239] across the room and held out a big horny hand toward his nephew.
“ray,” he said in a rough voice, “mitchell here tells me you saved my life. thank ye, lad, thank ye. i don’t know as it was wo’th savin’, but thank ye. also i want to—ah—er—apologize fer ah—” (the gruff voice faltered for a moment)—“aw, shucks, i guess i wasn’t all that an’ uncle an’ on’y kin should hev been to ye, ray, and i ax yer parding, ray.”
“pshaw, don’t mention it, uncle vance,” said ray, tears starting to his eyes. “i guess i wasn’t such a very good boy either. i—”
“oh, yes, you were. but i didn’t realize it until mitchell here opened my eyes. we got a lot to thank him for, lad. he showed me what kind of a boy you are; he nursed me back on my feet again; and he tells me that he found your lifeboat model, too, which i flung overboard.”
“so he did and here it is,” said ray, holding up the metal vessel.
“i’m mighty glad, ray, fer i repented throwin’ t’ thing away more than once lately,” said the swordfisherman.
[240]
this made ray fairly tremble with happiness, for he had been hoping that his uncle would not catch sight of the model for fear it would bring back his old animosity. but it had quite the opposite effect. vance carroll picked the metal boat up and examined it. then turning to mr. warner he demanded:
“what do you think of it, mr. engineer?”
“think? why i think it’s bully,” said mr. warner.
“an’ that’s what i been thinkin’ too. a lifeboat what won’t sink ner turn over could be a mighty handy thing. if we’d had one on board t’ fish hawk instead o’ dories, which we was afraid t’ trust, we could have left her long before she struck, and perhaps saved all o’ t’ crew.”
“by hookey, that’s right,” said ray, whose eyes were sparkling now. then he added, “this is going to be great, uncle vance, and mr. warner is going to help me patent it, and perhaps sell it for me so’s i can earn money enough to go to school.”
“well, he needn’t if he don’t want to, fer i’m goin’ t’ send you to school on my own[241] money. i’ve got enough fer that, an’ besides i guess i owe it to you.”
“what!” exclaimed the incredulous ray.
“yes, ye can go t’ school’s long es ye want. i don’t set much store by schoolin’ usually, but i’ve been so blasted mean to ye that i figger i owe ye t’ right o’ lettin’ ye hev yer own way fer a while. sure, go to school wherever you want an’ es long es ye want. i’ll foot t’ bill. guess ye earned enough money fer me t’ make accounts square in the end.”
“whoop-e-e, hear that, jack!” cried ray, scarcely able to control his emotions. “i’m to go to school anywhere i want and—”
“and, of course, you’ll come to drueryville, and be our full-back next year,” added the delighted jack.
“will i? well, you bet your boots i will!” shouted ray, and just because they did not know of a better way to express their pleasure, the two excited lads shook hands again and again.
and while jack and ray were talking, vance carroll picked up the model lifeboat and, beckoning to mr. warner and old mitchell, left the room for the outer office. there the three remained[242] for a good two hours, discussing the feasibility of organizing a company to build metal lifeboats, for each one of the three men seemed eager to invest his money in ray’s invention.
