"Are you turning now, Jack?" asked George.

"Yes; keep close by and try to pattern after what I do. Here goes, then, fellows."

"Hit her up; who cares for expenses?" cried Josh, who had been taking it comfortably right along, and seemed almost free from care.

By exercising more or less caution, they managed to change their course without losing each other in the fog. This was accomplished by calling out from time to time, or even sounding the signals on the horns.

In this fas.h.i.+on then they began to creep along. Only for that compa.s.s which Jack had before him, they might as well have been heading out to sea, for all any one could say.

"Me to get a compa.s.s as soon as we strike Charleston!" declared Herb.

"Yes, and George must do the same," Jack declared, from somewhere in the opaque mist. "Supposing we were separated in some way; you two fellows would be badly off with no means for locating east from west, or north from south."

"Jack, darlint!" they heard Jimmy cry out just then.

"What is it?" asked the skipper of the _Tramp_.

"I do be thinkin' I saw a break in the beastly ould fog beyont us; yis, an' by the powers, it's a braze that fans me cheek at this identical minute!"

"He's right, fellows!" shouted George.

"Then that means good-bye to the nasty old fog, which will be a riddance of bad rubbis.h.!.+" called the overjoyed Nick, reaching out and possessing himself of the cracker bag, so as to be ready to do his duty by his system.

"The breeze is dead ahead, boys," said Jack. "And in that event the fog will be swept to sea. Watch now, and you'll see something worth while."

Jack evidently knew what he was talking about, for in less than five minutes it seemed as though some wizard must have waved his magical wand, for suddenly they shot out of the thick pea-soup atmosphere and into the bright suns.h.i.+ne.

They were indeed in a big bay, with land on three sides. The sun, now half way and more down the western sky, shone in an unclouded field, and the water danced in the fresh sh.o.r.e breeze.

Then every fellow shouted and waved his hat, such was the relief that pa.s.sed over them at the successful termination of the long outside dash.

"Don't any one of you ever dare to run my bully engine down, after it has stood by me so n.o.bly," George was saying, as they started at a faster clip up still further into Winyah Bay, into which the Peedee River empties.

No one was disposed to cast the slightest reflection on the cranky motor of the speed boat; for just then they were feeling at peace with all the world, and quite ready to forgive their worst enemies.

That night they camped on the sh.o.r.e of a creek that emptied into the bay, ready to take up their southern journey with the coming of the morrow.

CHAPTER XXII.

SAVANNAH AT LAST.

After that came some more hard inside work. There were times when even the sanguine Jack began to fear that they would never reach Charleston; for even at high tide they found the connecting creeks in many instances little more than shallow ponds, and before they could break through, considerable pus.h.i.+ng and dragging had to be done.

But where there is a will there usually appears to be a way; and by slow degrees they drew nearer the city on the coast.

"With good luck, fellows, we ought to make it tomorrow," Jack announced, one evening, after he had been closely examining his charts again by the light of the cheery camp fire.

"Do you really mean it, Jack, darlint?" demanded Jimmy, with the air of one who had almost given up hope.

"I sure do," replied the other. "As I make it out, this is Bull's Island we are on right now. If that's a fact, there's a fine inside pa.s.sage all the way to Charleston Bay, behind several other islands, or at least one big one called Capers. Our troubles are over, so far as this part of the trip goes."

"That's bully good news you're giving us, Jack," remarked George; "and I hope it won't prove a delusion and a snare. I've had about as much of that push pole business as is good for my const.i.tution, I guess."

"Yes, and look at me!" cried Nick, pulling a long face, though with only a great effort; "pretty near skin and bones, with all this worry and hard work; and to add insult to injury, put on half rations latterly. It's a shame, that's what."

"Rats!" scoffed the unbelieving George; "I'd like to wager now that you've gone and picked up ten pounds since starting on this cruise. By the way you put away the grub it ought to be nearer twenty."

"You don't mean to hurt my feelings, I know, George," said the fat boy, sweetly; "and, considering the source, I'll forgive you. But I warn you plainly, right now, that if I have to keep on being crew to your blooming old speed boat, I'm going to lay in a lot of rubber cus.h.i.+ons at Charleston, so as to keep me from rubbing all the skin off my poor body when I have to sleep aboard here, and the boat wabbles with every teenty wave. Don't you say a word, for my mind's made up."

"Oh! get whatever you want in that line; it doesn't make a bit of difference to me. I never have needed cus.h.i.+ons so far," George exploded, sarcastically.

"Huh! that's easy; because you've got me to bang up against!" exclaimed Nick.

"That's right, George; he's got one on you there," laughed Jack.

"And who'd want a finer cus.h.i.+on than our Nick?" remarked Herb.

"Nature knew what was needed, when he was padded and filled out so well," Josh managed to work in with; "and if ever I needed a b.u.mper, I'd pick him out first thing."

"Get out!" snapped Nick; but all the same he grinned as though complimented.

On the following morning, then, they made an early start, for there was considerable of a distance to be covered ere they could reach the hospitable docks of Charleston by the sea.

Jack knew that their supply of gas was growing alarmingly low. Indeed, George had already been obliged to borrow from the _Comfort_, as that craft had the largest reservoir and could spare a little.

"It's going to be a close shave to get us there," he remarked, as they started.

"What if my tank goes empty again?" demanded George.

"I've been thinking of that," said Jack. "As a last resort then, we'll make camp, empty all we've got into one tank, and that boat can go after a new supply."

"That's the ticket!" cried Josh.

"It takes Jack to solve these maddening puzzles!" declared Nick, with a look of affection in the direction of the chum who never failed them.

"But still, I have hopes we'll all pull through," Jack continued, encouragingly.

"How'd it be for one of the boats to do the towing act?" suggested Herb.

"And that would mean the _Comfort_, because she's built more on the lines of a tow boat than either of the others," remarked George. "I enter a kick against anything of the kind. It's bad enough to be humiliated that way when a fellow's motor goes back on him; but in calm weather, and with the engine in the pink of condition, it just can't be thought of for a minute."

"Hey! what you trying to do again; throw me overboard?" demanded Nick, aggressively, as he floundered about when the _Wireless_ came to a sudden and totally unexpected stop, just as George ceased speaking.

"His engine broke down again, that's what!" jeered Josh.