Others were clearing
the life rafts so they could be launched without delay. He glanced at
Dan with admiring eyes.
"I want to compliment you, Captain Merrithew," he said. "You have your
crew well in hand."
"Thank you," replied Dan, "if you will keep your party in hand there'll
be no danger at all. I don't care what happens, with the sea falling."
Another half-hour. The steamship, a stout coaster, had now climbed
over the horizon. Mr. Howland, through the glasses, had picked out her
red-and-black funnel and recognized her as one of his own boats. But
it had plainly come to a race between the steamship and the straining
bulkhead. No need now to tell any one of the situation. The _Veiled
Ladye_ was plainly settling astern. The engine-room bulkhead was
quivering, ready to break. Arthur and his men had piled up from the
engine-room, the engines still pulsing with no one to watch them. The
sailors were splendid, going about their work quietly, calmly. They
had carried the injured mate, groaning with his broken leg, to the
deck. Mrs. Van Vleck, Mr. Rowland's sister, the chaperone, sat with
her niece's arms about her, passing in and out of successive attacks of
hysteria. A sailor had knocked one of the young men of the party down
to quiet an incipient exhibition of panic.
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