Part 23 (1/2)
For only a few brief seconds did this last; then it ceased as suddenly as though a tap had been turned off An instant later the line of white water appeared, scarcely a hundred yards distant from the _Chih' Yuen's_ stern Frobisher had barely time to yell an order to thewave and the attendant hurricane broke upon the cruiser
The wave, black, glea flashes, and capped with a ridge of phosphorescent foam, swept over the cruiser's stern, down upon the quarter-deck, and then forward, burying the shi+p in an instant fro bridge, was unable for a few seconds to see anything of his vessel's decks, the bridge on which he and Drake were standing--or endeavouring to stand--and the tops of the ventilators being all of the upper-works that showed above the racing turmoil of foam-covered water At the saainst the quivering rails of the bridge and held there, powerless toforce of the wind
A perceptible quiver thrilled through the hull of the sturdy vessel as, like a live thing, she endeavoured to free herself froht of water, and a few ed from the swirl, which poured off her decks in cataracts Then, rolling herself free of the rest of her burden, she was carried irresistibly forward on the back of the wave, like a chip in the current of a h of relief as he saw his shi+p shake herself free ”A little longer, Drake, and she would have foundered under our feet,” he asp; ”if she had not been the sturdy craft that she is, she would not have co the spray out of his eyes; ”that was a narrow squeak, if ever there was one But hark to the wind!
Itat ninety et in our way, for we could not possibly avoid it A hair's-breadth out of our course, and the shi+p would broach to and capsize with us”
Drake spoke truth Although the sea was absolutely s shorn off by the terrific force of the wind almost before it had time to form--the extre was still running Even the hurricane could not flatten that, and the _Chih' Yuen_, driven forward by her own steam and the power of the wind behind her, rushed down one steep slope and up the next with a speed that ht alteration of the hel, would certainly suffice to send her reeling over upon her bea round him, after the storm's first wild outburst, Frobisher was horrified to observe the terrible dareat rush of water Of the men who had been on deck at the tiled, half-drowned creatures, clinging limply to the nearest support, could be seen; while every movable object had been swept overboard into the sea, as well as a number that are not usually considered easy of removal Several ventilators had been shorn off level with the deck, and the water had poured in tons down the openings thus forether, and of another boat only the ste to the davit tackles by their ring-bolts
Stanchions were either ether, or bent into a variety of curious and extraordinary shapes; and even souns mounted on deck had been torn from their tripods, and were by this time at the bottom of the sea The havoc was simply indescribable, and Frobisher's heart was full of bitterness as he surveyed the shocking wreck of what had, a few minutes previously, been the smartest and finest cruiser in the whole Chinese Navy, and thought of the poor souls ere perhaps, even now, struggling feebly as they gradually sank to their watery graves
All that night both Drake and Frobisher re to leave the shi+p to herself for an instant; andthose hours of darkness did each of them think that his last moment was coering blows inflicted by wind and sea, and rushed fro-fish pursued by dolphin
Several ti her skipper tried to gauge the speed at which his shi+p was travelling, and ulti fully twenty knots over the ground As the cruiser was travelling at this high speed Frobisher becaht of the sun at midday, in order to ascertain his position; for he was of opinion that he , those islands foro; and he feared, everyupon soed rock But, unfortunately, the atmosphere was far too thick to render any observation possible; indeed, ith the black, low-hanging clouds, and the dense spindrift hich the air was filled, it was as dark at midday as it would have been, under ordinary circued to content himself with the very unsatisfactory result obtained by dead reckoning
Late in the afternoon the typhoon eased up a little, and Frobisher sent Drake below to secure so to call him and take his own turn after the first lieutenant had refreshed himself with three hours' slumber
At the expiration of that time the wind had dropped so e; and he therefore had Drake called to take his place With the easing of the wind, however, a very steep and heavy sea naturally began to rise, and Frobisher therefore instructed Drake to call hier arise to the shi+p He then went below and turned in ”all standing”, excepting that he discarded his boots and his water-soaked oilskins; and he was asleep almost before his head had touched the pillow
It see but a few minutes when he felt himself violently shaken by the shoulder, and awoke to find Drake, still haggard and worn for want of proper sleep, standing over hi, Drake?” was his immediate enquiry, followed by a request to be told the time, since his oatch appeared to have run down
”Nothing absolutely wrong, sir,” was the reply, ”but what you can feel for yourself The sea has risen very badly; and the shi+p is not behaving as well as I should like The chief engineer, also, has just sent up word that the engines are working a bit loose, and that sos are almost red-hot He thinks that some parts of the machinery must have been strained when that first wave swept over us; so I thought it just as well to let you know As for the ti”
”Three in the !” ejaculated the captain ”Surely not, Drake! I ht! I will be on deck in a few seconds”
Hardly were the words out of his mouth when there arose on deck a fearful outcry, as of men in the extremity of fear and dismay; and before Frobisher and Drake had planted their feet on the first steps of the coed forward, and then struck again At the sa was in darkness
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
IN THE HANDS OF FORMOSAN CANNIBALS
”Heavens above!” shouted Frobisher, as he and Drake picked themselves up from the floor, to which they had been hurled at the first shock; ”the shi+p is ashore!”
As if to emphasise the state the top of the steeply-inclined ladder a deluge of water crashed thunderously down on the cruiser's poop, driving in a solidher to buain heavily
Then ca sounds of rending and tearing iron, shearing rivets, janglingscreaiant corinding and tearing their way into the unfortunate _Chih' Yuen's_ vitals
When Frobisher and his lieutenant gained the wave-swept deck, the first faint gli away to the eastward, and objects close at hand were beginning to take on recognisable forh all the lae of the dynamo, which had been jolted froht extent possible to see as happening, and to dodge thehurled hither and thither about the decks
Frobisher's first instructions were to the engine-rooineers had o for orders; and the next was to the carpenter, to sound the well and ascertain how much water the shi+p had inside her True, she seeh fixed on the rocks at the ht slide off and, if she had taken in much water, carry the to receive the man's report, he ordered such boats as still remained in a condition to swim to be stocked with provisions and water, and to be hoisted off the chocks ready for lowering in a hurry, should necessity arise These, it was soon discovered, a the steam-pinnace, which, Frobisher feared, it would be iet into the water under the circu the large number of men who had been already swept overboard and drowned, there would not be sufficient acco crew
Meanwhile the seas, although they still continued to break heavily over the shi+p's stern, were not nearly so violent as the great waves that had swept the decks when she first struck; and thetheir opportunity After the first fewpersonality and cool confidence soon restored the e, and discipline once more prevailed
The carpenter returned after about five minutes' absence, and reported that already there was more than ten feet of water in the fore end of the shi+p, while in the engine-room it was almost up to the bedplates, and that consequently the stokers were drawing the furnaces as quickly as they could in order to avert an explosion He also added that, during the brief period while he had been sounding the well, the water had risen almost a foot, and that therefore the vessel could not be expected to float h the bows of the _Chih' Yuen_ were supported on a ridge or pinnacle of rock, the after portion of the shi+p was in deep water, in which it was quickly sinking lower and lower, so that it was almost a question of minutes before she must either break in two or else slide backward off the rock and founder