Part 35 (2/2)
The sublieutenant hauled hiave the wheel a half-spoke and looked as if he had no interest in anything Joe Byng in the chains bowed his head and groaned inwardly; his sticky, spray-washed lead see
”Tell that black robber to hurry aboard, unless he wants me to come in without him”
The little boat had drifted fast before the wind, and the sublieutenant had to bellow through a ed oarsainst the storrace the Navy, balanced on a thide-spread naked toes and yelled an ululating answer With his rags out-blown in the s clanged again, and the Puncher drifted rather than drove down on the sht the pilot precisely in the face He grabbed it frantically, fell headlong in the sea, and was hauled aboard
”He says he wants a tow for that boat of his,” reported the sublieutenant ”Said it in English, too-seead, by just about five minutes!” said the coain's ! Throw 'em a line, quick!”
The pilot's crew displayed no overdone affection for their craft, and there was no struggle to the last to leave it One by one-whichever could grab the line first was the first to co waves and their boat was left to sink Then, before they could adjust their unaccusto deck, the gongs clanged and the destroyer leaped ahead like a dripping sea-soused water beetle, into her utmost speed that instant
All conscious of his neon dignity, and utterly regardless of his boat, the pilot had found the bridge at once He clung to the rail there and braced one naked foot against a stanchion To hi, for either Mr Hartley had forgotten just how many revolutions would ine-room's capacity The Puncher split the waves and spewed the head-on for the reef, and Curley Crothers was too busy at his wheel to pass the pilot the surreptitious insult he intended
The gongs clanged presently, and the Puncher sed half her speed at once, giving the pilot courage
”This exceedingly daerous place, sah!” he re in the chains
Three words passed between the commander and Crothers, and the Puncher hove a weed-draped underside high over the crest of a beam-on roller as she veered a dozen points, ducked her starboard rail into the trough of it, and sliced her long thin nose, sizzling and swirling, into the welter ahead It was groeedier and dirtier each
And at the sound of his voice the pilot hauled hiain
”This erous place, sah!”
But the co, Lead and Lookout-his shrouded figure swaying to the heave and fall and his eyes fixed straight ahead of hi foam He had conned his course and had it charted in his head There was no tiue with a pilot
”Port you-ah hel-u Joe Byng from the chains
”Port you-ah hel-uht
”Starboard a little,” came the quiet command
Curley Crothers moved his wheel and the Puncher's boenty feet, as if Providence had pushed her
”Gawd A' open-rinned up suddenly three waves away
The pilot braced both feet against a stanchion and tried to take the weigh off her by pulling
”Half speed, sah! Go slow, sah! Go dead slow, sah! You'll pile up you-ah damn shi+p, sah! Ah tell you, sah, you'll pile her up as suah as hell, sah! 'Bout a million sharks round he-ah, sah! For the love o' God, sah-Captain, sah-”