"Do you see that little black cloud, Striker?"

"I do, sir!" And now Luke became all attention and so did Larry. "Kind o' funny lookin', ain't it?"

"It is odd," answered the captain. "Do you see how it seems to be dancing around in the sky?"

"Is it a cloud?" questioned Larry. "If so, I never saw its like before."

"I'll take a look at it through my gla.s.s," went on the captain, and sent a sailor for the article.

The cloud came swiftly closer and they heard a most unusual roaring and hissing. Then of a sudden the cloud seemed to dip down into the sea.

When it came up, the waters of the ocean followed, and there loomed up before those on the ship a waterspout ten or fifteen feet thick.

"A waterspout!" cried half a dozen in concert.

"And a mighty powerful one, too," said the captain. "I trust it don't come this way."

"It is coming this way!" yelled Larry. "Look! look!"

The young second mate was right, the waterspout appeared to be headed directly for the schooner. But then it shot off to the westward, churning the water into a foam behind it.

"It's going away," murmured Luke, when once more the waterspout made a curve and then shot directly toward them. It was off the port bow and less than a hundred feet away. It looked as if the old _Columbia_ was surely doomed!

CHAPTER X

SOMETHING ABOUT WAR AND FIGHTING SHIPS

"It's going to strike the ship!"

"It will cut us to pieces!"

"Throw the schooner over on the other tack!"

These and several other cries rang out on the deck of the _Columbia_.

All felt their hearts come up into their throats as the roaring, swirling ma.s.s of water came closer and closer, until the spray drenched them completely. The ocean was churned into a white foam and the wind seemed to suck and blow in all directions at once.

But, just as it looked as if the schooner would be buried beneath a veritable mountain of water, the waterspout took another curve and slid away, along the side of the ship and off the stern. The man at the wheel came close to being carried overboard by the deluge he received and the _Columbia_ bobbed up and down like a cork. But in another moment the waterspout was an eighth of a mile distant.

"What a--a narrow escape," faltered Larry, when he felt able to speak.

"I thought we were bound for the bottom sure!"

"Thet's the closest I ever was to any waterspout," came from Luke, as he wiped his wet brow. "Reckon we can thank Providence we ain't in Davy Jones' locker this minit!"

Captain Ponsberry did not say much, but kept his eyes fixed on the waterspout, which was making fantastic curves across the bosom of the Pacific. At times it was close by and then it would go half a mile or more away. It was a fascinating scene, full of dread, and gave more than one onlooker a chill down his backbone.

"I wish it would go away completely," went on Larry.

But this was not to be. The waterspout kept within sight for a good half-hour, although it did not come near them again. At last it grew less and less, off to the southwestward, and finally vanished altogether. The gla.s.s was used in that direction, but nothing save a clear horizon could be located.

"We are clear of it at last," said Captain Ponsberry, and breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Waterspouts are mighty dangerous things," said Grandon, after the scare was over. "When I was on board of the brig _Ben Franklin_ we ran into a spout off the coast of Brazil, and it knocked off the bow and the forward rail and nearly sank us."

"I met one once, off the coast of Cuba," said the captain. "That went ash.o.r.e and tore up the trees like so many weeds for a hundred feet around. A waterspout is nothing to be fooled with, I can tell you."

On the day following the appearance of the waterspout the weather changed. There was a slight storm and then a stiff breeze sprang up which was cheering to all on board. Every st.i.tch of canvas on the _Columbia_ was spread and the schooner bowled along right merrily.

"I'd like to know how this war is going on, and how Ben and Gilbert are faring," said Larry to Captain Ponsberry. "A whole lot may have happened since we left Manila."

"Well, you'll probably get word from your brother when you reach Nagasaki, lad; and we'll get word from Captain Pennington, too."

"I hope neither of them has been wounded."

"So do I; but when one goes to the front he has got to put up with the fortunes of war. Being a soldier of fortune, as it is called, is no baby business."

"Do you suppose the j.a.ps are continuing to bombard Port Arthur?"

"More than likely--if the place hasn't fallen into their hands. They want to make sure of their footing in lower Manchuria, and they can never do that so long as the Russians hold a single seaport down there."

"I suppose Russia has a pretty good-sized navy as well as an army?"

"Yes, Larry, one of the largest navies in the world. But their fighting ships are no better than the ships of j.a.pan. You see, the j.a.panese navy is not near as old as the navy of Russia. Almost all of the ships are of the up-to-date types. Most of them have been built since the war between j.a.pan and China in 1894 and 1895."

"That would make them only about ten years old."

"Exactly, and I've been told that some of the ships in the Russian navy are twenty and thirty years old. More than this, all of the j.a.panese guns are of the latest pattern--just as they are on our new warships."

"I'd like to go aboard of a j.a.panese warship," cried the young second mate, enthusiastically.

"Want to see if it's as good as it was aboard of the _Olympia_, eh?"

"Yes, sir. Of course the _Olympia_ was old, especially alongside of the _Brooklyn_, on which my brother Walter served in Cuban waters, but even so she was a bang-up fighting machine. If she hadn't been she wouldn't have done her share in sinking that Spanish fleet in Manila Bay."

"Well, you may have a chance to go aboard of a j.a.panese ship while we stop at Nagasaki. There must be a number of them at that port, coaling up and taking war supplies aboard."

"How long do you think it will be before we reach that port?"

"That will depend entirely upon the wind, as you know. If we get just what we need we may reach there inside of four or five days," answered Captain Ponsberry.

As Peterson and Shamhaven were now behaving themselves they were allowed to come out of the brig and do some work on the deck every morning and afternoon. Both begged the captain to forgive them, but the master of the _Columbia_ would promise nothing.

"You went into this with your eyes wide open," he said. "Now you can line up and take your medicine."

Semmel was exceedingly bitter at not being allowed his liberty for at least a few hours a day and said he would denounce the captain at the first opportunity. But Captain Ponsberry soon cut him short.