"There is dinner," said Grace, and brought it in. "You can help
yourself." And she went into the next room to join Nellie and Dora.
"Aint going to wait on us, eh?" grumbled Lesher, with a hiccough.
"All right, my fine ladies. But I am master, don't you forget that!"
He began to eat leisurely, while Dan Baxter began to bolt his food.
In the meantime the sky grew darker and the flashes of lightning more
vivid. The girls were greatly frightened, and huddled together, while
tears stood on Grace's cheeks.
"Oh, if only somebody was with us," sighed Nellie.
By the time Lesher and Baxter had finished eating the storm was on
them in all of its violence. The wind shrieked and tore through the
jungle behind them, and often they could hear some tall tree go down
with a crash.
"This will tear our flag of distress to shreds," said Nellie. "And
just when we need it so much, too!"
"I am thinking of the future as well as the present," said Dora.
"What a rough time there will be if Lesher brings those other sailors
here. Some of them were heavy drinkers like himself, and only two or
three were Americans."
The storm had whipped the waters of the bay into a fury, and the rain
was so thick that to see even the island on which the wreck rested
was impossible.
"Dick can't come now," said Dora. "A boat on the bay would surely go
down."
Having finished the meal, Lesher and Baxter sat down in the living
room to smoke and to talk over the situation.
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