 | V The Tale of a Tightwad |  |
5. V
"It was fine sailin' down the Sound the first day out, but about noon of the second we run into a bank of fog you couldn't see ten feet through. They shut her down to half speed, an' went nosin' through it, blowin' the fog-whistle an' tryin' to keep a general guess on where we were headin' for. There'd been quite a breeze in the mornin', an' there was a nasty little chop left. We went wallowing through it for about half an hour, an' then, all of a sudden, whang, crash, lickety-bang! We hit a rock hard enough to knock out a prize-fighter that's as good as he says he is. The bow of that boat scooted up on a nice little accommodatin' wave that couldn't stay long, an' when the wave moved on, the poor bow fell on that rock. Some fall! It knocked a hole in the boat big enough for a good-sized river to run through without gettin' dammed up. The men got the life-boat busy, an' found we were only a few yards from shore. They got us all off all right, but speed was necessary. That five-hundred-dollar beauty of Wiggins's was spoilin' herself on that rock mighty fast.
"Scared as I was, I took pains to watch an' see if he'd squeal. He didn't. When we got ashore, I took pains to mention what a shame it was that the boat should be a total loss to him, so soon after he'd bought it, an' he just laughed.
"`There are other boats,' he says, in
"We'd landed on a little beach at the foot of some high rocks, an' we sat there for a half-hour or so, wonderin' where we was. Then the fog lifted, an' we got a little peek around. We was on one o' them steep little rocky islands that a mountain goat couldn't make a mile an hour across. It was a cinch that wherever we was goin' from where we were, we wouldn't travel afoot. The only way away from there was by water.
"The captain squinted around a little an' located himself. He said we were only about two miles from Uniondale.
"`Well, of all good fortune!' Wiggins chirps up, as happy as a canary sounds. `Uniondale, eh? Well, we won't have to forego our trip after all. Just before I bought the White Wave a chap from Uniondale approached me and tried to sell me his boat. She was in the harbor at Uniondale, and I didn't want to take the time to run across here and look her over, so I bought the White Wave. I'll just row the two miles up to Uniondale with the captain, buy the boat that's there, and return for you people in a jiffy. I understand it's a better boat than the White Wave was, anyway.'
"Just like that! Five hundred dollars gone on the rocks, an' he was happy 'cause he had the chance to spend another wad right away quick. Of course, every one tried to argue him out of doing any such thing, but he wouldn't be dissuaded. Not him! An' he was the Henry Wiggins that up to two months before that time wouldn't tip his hat, if he could help it, on account of the wear an' tear on the brim!
"`If it should happen that I'm not able to buy the vessel I have in mind, I'll hire some craft and come back for you at once,' he says. `I'm sorry on account of the inconvenience you have been put to.'
"So he got into the life-boat with the captain, an' they rowed away for Uniondale. All the rest of us, except Bert an' me, sat there an' said what a fine an' wonderful man Henry Wiggins was.
| V The Tale of a Tightwad | |