Read Online The Secret of the Wooden Lady by Carolyn Keene - Free Book Online Page B

aloft to struggle with a whipping sail on the mainmast. Burt was at the wheel.
    “Got to shorten more sail,” Captain Easterly bellowed. “Going to be a blow. We tried to run for it, but we’re caught. All we can do now is make things fast and ride her out. Nancy, you and Ned take the wheel and relieve Burt. I need him.”
    The wind increased. The waves rose and crashed over the deck. It was all the couple could do to hold the ship on the course the captain had set. The rain pelted down in the inky darkness.
    Clinging to the wheel, Nancy looked around her in fascinated horror. Waves broke over the forecastle head and raced along the deck. Above her the rigging hummed and jangled.
    Captain Easterly fought his way back to the drenched girl and grasped the wheel.
    “Get below, Nancy!” he bellowed.
    Grasping the rigging and the rail, Nancy finally reached the companionway and half slid, half fell to the passageway below.
    She found Bess and George in the captain’s cabin. Bess was lying on the bunk, hanging onto the side with both hands. George, who had gone to help but had been sent back, was sitting on top of the built-in desk, clutching the porthole frame.
    Furniture that was not bolted down was sliding from one end of the cabin to the other. Nancy fell into the bunk with Bess.
    “The storm’s bound to blow itself out pretty soon,” Nancy said, trying to be cheerful. “I wonder how the stowaway’s making out.”
    “It would serve him right if he got all banged up,” George said bitterly.
    Within a few minutes the deafening roar of the wind slackened suddenly. The noise of the crash ing waves was not so terrifying.
    Nancy decided to go back to the wheel. Maybe she could be helpful. What a different scene from the one a short time before! The storm was over. In the distance twinkling lights on shore mingled with streaks of gray in the early-morning sky.
    “We’re making for a cove,” Ned told her. Bess and George had come up on deck, and everyone watched as Captain Easterly dropped anchor in the deep water of the cove.
    Then the captain ordered a hearty breakfast for his weary workers. Nancy and George quickly set the long table in the galley, while Bess fried enormous quantities of bacon and eggs. After they had been consumed, the skipper suggested sleep for his guests. Exhausted, they obeyed, while he remained on watch.
    By ten o’clock Nancy and her friends were up and around again. Captain Easterly thanked them for their good sportsmanship.
    “You’re real mariners,” he said.
    “And the Bonny Scot’s a swell ship,” Dave spoke up. “I hope you get a clear title, so you can buy her, Captain Easterly. And I hope you invite us to take a sail with you.”
    “So do I,” said Burt.
    “Don’t forget me.” Ned laughed.
    The captain’s eyes twinkled. “Want me to ask the girls, too?”
    “Why not?” said Ned. “Every clipper needs cooks.”
    The girls grimaced, then Ned said, “I hate to change the subject, but we fellows will have to get to camp or lose our jobs, Captain. Will you and the girls be safe here in the cove if we leave?”
    Captain Easterly nodded. “Safe as a clam in a shell. We’ll even catch our stowaway, unless he’s swum to land already.”
    Since the dinghy carried only four passengers, it was decided that Nancy would go ashore with the boys and row the boat back.
    “Now you can get some sleep, Captain East erly,” Bess said kindly.
    Nancy was glad of the opportunity to notify her father that the ship was safe in the cove, and to do a little exploring in the nearby waterfront town. She had the unusual-looking snuffbox in her purse as she climbed into the boat.
    “Be careful,” Bess called after her, leaning anxiously over the side. “Grizzle Face or Flip Fay may be around!”
    “I’ll watch out,” Nancy promised.
    The boys caught a bus for Boston and Nancy was left alone on the main street of the little town. She found that telegrams could be sent from the