Part 9 (1/2)
”Would you like to sit in ?”
She thought that would be splendid Courtenay, if any one, would succeed in cal Isobel In order to make herself heard she, in turn, had to put her lips quite near to Courtenay's face
”Yes,” she cried, ”I shall be only too pleased But be patient with her; she is very frightened”
There is no accounting for the workings of a man's mind Courtenay, at no time a lady's man, most certainly had otheronly of a wos were banished by a rush of absurd delight at the thought that he would have an opportunity of speaking to her occasionally What a brave girl she was! What a wife for a sailor!
In truth, these were mad notions that jostled in his brain when his life and her's were not worth an hour's purchase He drew her to the foot of the ladder
”Run ahead, Joey!” he cried The dog, a weird little figure leaning forward at a ridiculous angle against the tearing wind, obeyed instantly ”Now, you,” he said to Elsie, ”but wait until I pass you at the top”
Though her skirts were troublesoain, and hardly knehere she was until she found herself in the haven of Courtenay's cabin Joey was glad to be there, too He shook himself noisily in his heavy coat
”You won't ot his anxiety as to smile
”No, indeed,” and she s in about five minutes You won't stir till we cohed at the idea
He bolted the door, and he ran into the chart-house to tap the baro! Ah, if only the wind lanced at the compass
Still the saained to the north
That was bad The shi+p was already within the danger zone Pray Heaven for a falling wind, or even a change to the southward! Still, it was in an altogether ained the promenade deck and made his way towards the saloon
He was in the very act of entering the doorhen a shudder ran through the shi+p, and she lifted slightly Clinging to a rail, he waited, rigid as a statue A second tireat steel hull shook, but much more violently Then the _Kansas_ ran her nose into a shoal, swung round broadside to the sea, lifted again, struck heavily, and listed to port
Courtenay was on the starboard side He heard a yell of dis to the boats Screams came from the saloon The sea leaped triumphantly over the rails and nearly smothered him with its dense spray So this was the end? It had come all too soon And what a place for the shi+p to be cast away! Twenty miles from the nearest land, in the midst of a sea where no boat could live God help them all!
CHAPTER V
THE KANSAS SUSTAINS A CHECK--
Once, in early days, when Courtenay was a middy on a destroyer, his shi+p ran ashore on the Manacles After a bu a hurricane, the little vessel broke her back, and the after part, with the engines, fell away into deep water
Courtenay happened to be on the bridge; the forward half held intact, so he and the other survivors clambered ashore at loater
He waited now for the rending of plates, the tearing asunder of stanch steel ribs and cross-beams, which should sound the knell of the shi+p's last moments But the _Kansas_ seeroaned, and shook violently when a wave pounded her; otherwise, she lay there like a beaten thing, oddly rese but almost unconscious men stretched on the mattresses in the forward saloon
Courtenay did not experience the least fear of death Emotion of any sort was already dead in hi current, setting to the southeast, had not upset his reckoning--if there were any broken li the occupants of the saloon--if Elsie had been injured by being thron into his cabin He looked at his watch; it was past eleven In four hours there would be dawn Dawn! In asAh! Perhaps not even four minutes! The _Kansas_, with a shi+ver, lifted to the embrace of a heavy sea, lurched to port, and settled herself le Noas possible to walk There were no rocks here, at any rate Courtenay at once jumped to the conclusion that the powerful current whose existence he suspected had cut out for itself a deep-water channel towards the land, and the shi+p had struck on the silt of its back-wash Anyhow, the _Kansas_ was still living The lights were all burning steadily He could detect the rhythine He felt it like the faint beat of a pulse In her new position the shi+p presented less of a solid wall to the onslaught of the sea The tu so fiercely Had she started her plates? Were the holds and engine-room full of water? If so, Walker and his helpers were already drowning beneath his feet And, when next she ht slip away into the depths!
These and kindred thoughts, thoughts without sequence and alh his mind with incredible speed They were lucid and reasoned, their pros and cons equally dealt with--he could have answered any question on each point were it propounded by a board of examiners--and all this took place within a few seconds, between the i wave and another
A nized hie of the donkey-boiler and seized him wrathfully, his eyes ablaze
”Go back!” he roared
”Senor! The shi+p is lost!”