THE WRECK OF THE "TEMPEST QUEEN"
"What's wrong?" asked Veath, alarmed by the agitation of the two
soldiers.
"Captain Shadburn estimates that we are two hundred miles out of our
course, away to the south. It's impossible to get our bearings without
the sun, and the Lord only knows where we're running to," said Hamilton,
holding to the door casing.
Hugh and Lady Huntingford had joined the others by this time and were
listening with blanched faces to the men in uniform.
"It's as black as ink outside," said little Lieutenant Gregory,
shivering in a manner most unbecoming in a soldier. "As long as they
can keep the boat out of the trough we'll ride the waves safely, but the
deuced danger lies in the reefs and little islands. We may be dashing
into one of them at this minute."
"You're a cheerful hero," cried Hugh indignantly. "What's the use of
imagining a thing like that? It's time enough to think about it when we
strike the reef; and, besides, it can't help us any to cry. We can't
leave the ship for a walk back to dry land. We're here to see the thing
to the end, no matter where it is, and I don't believe in howling before
we're hurt."
"That's right," agreed Veath. "Possibly we're out of the course. That
happens in every storm that comes up at sea."
"But there are hundreds of reefs here that are not even on the chart,"
cried Gregory.
"Well, there have been thousands of ships to escape them all, I fancy,"
said Ridgeway boldly. The two women were speechless.
"And there have been thousands of storms, too," added Veath, a sort of
wild exultation ringing in his voice, plain to Grace if not to
the others.
"Do not try to deceive us, gentlemen," wavered Lady Tennys. "We can be a
great deal braver if we know the real situation. I know you are making
light of this dreadful storm out of consideration for Miss Ridge and
myself, but don't you think it would be better if we were told the
worst? Women are not always the greater cowards."
"Yes, Hugh, we should know the worst," said Grace firmly. "The ship is
rolling frightfully, and Lieutenant Hamilton has said enough to assure
us that Captain Shadburn is alarmed, even apprehensive."
"Perhaps I am too much of an optimist, but I stick to my statement that
while we are in some danger--any fool can see that--we are by no means
lost," said Hugh, looking at Gregory when he used the word fool.
"As long as the engine and steering apparatus hold together the crew of
the ship can pull her through," said Veath. "I have the utmost
confidence in the boat and the men."
"But all the men on the ocean cannot keep her from striking an unseen
rock, nor could any ship withstand such a shock," argued the young
Englishwoman bravely.
"That's right, Lady Tennys," quickly cried Hamilton. "I don't say the
ship will get the worst of a straight fight against the sea, but we
won't stand the ghost of a chance if we strike a reef."
"The best thing we all can do is to find some place where there is not
quite so much danger of having our brains dashed out against these
walls. It's getting so that I can't keep my feet much longer. This is no
time to be taking chances of a broken leg, or an arm or a neck, perhaps.
We'll need them all if we have to swim to Hong Kong."
Despite his attempted jocularity, Ridgeway was sorely troubled. Common
sense told him that they were now in a most perilous position. The dead
reckoning of the captain and his chartmaster, while able to determine
with a certain degree of accuracy the locality in which the ship was
beating, could not possibly account for the exact position of those
little islands. He began to think of the life preservers. A feeble smile
came to the ladies when he spoke of swimming to Hong Kong, but the men,
Veath included, looked serious.
"I think it would be wise if we make every preparation to leave the
ship, awful as the prospect may seem. My judgment is that we should
take time by the forelock. It will be too late after the crash comes."
Veath said this solemnly, and a deeper sense of realization came to all
of them. Strange to say, it inspired energy and calmness rather than
weakness and panic.
"The life preservers, you mean?" almost whispered Grace. A fearful lurch
of the boat caused the whole party to cling desperately to the supports.
Before he could answer a ship's officer came scudding down below.
"Captain Shadburn says that every one is to prepare for the worst. The
propeller's smashed and we can't live in this sea. Be quick!" cried the
pale-faced sailor, hurrying onward. In an inconceivably short space of
time the passages and saloons were crowded with rushing passengers.
Pandemonium prevailed. Women were shrieking, men yelling and praying.
Cooler heads were utterly powerless to subdue the crazy disorder.
Ridgeway and Veath hurried the two women to their staterooms, plunging
along, almost falling with the savage rolling of the boat.
"For God's sake, hurry!" called Hamilton from afar. "We are turning into
the trough."
How our friends got into the cumbersome preservers and prepared
themselves for the end they could never have told. Everything seemed a
blank, the whole world whirled, all the noises in the universe rolled in
their ears. Then they were stumbling, rolling, tearing toward the upper
deck, hardly knowing whither they went or how they progressed. Before,
behind, beside them were yelling, maddened men and women, rushing
upward ruthlessly into the very waves of the ocean, all to be lost.
On the steps Hugh and Grace, who were together in advance of Veath and
Lady Tennys, encountered the latter's husband. Pie had fallen, and was
grovelling, cursing, screaming, praying on the steps. Hugh pulled him to
his feet. With a mad yell he fled onward and upward. At the top he was
checked by the sailors, who were vainly trying to keep the people back.
He struggled past them and on toward the open deck. An officer caught
him and held him firmly until Hugh, Veath, and the two trembling
women came up.
"Get back, all of you!" yelled Shadburn. "You can't come out here. Every
sailor on deck has been washed overboard!"
"Don't let us sink! Don't let us sink! For God's sake!" shrieked Lord
Huntingford. Then he saw his wife. "Save me, Tennys; we are lost! We
are lost!"
A great wave swept over the deck, washing all of them back into the
companionway, half drowned.
"Is there any hope, Mr. Frayne?" yelled Hugh to the second officer,
holding himself and his half-dead sweetheart against the leaping of
the boat.
"One chance in a million! Stay back there and we'll try the boats. God
knows they can't live in this sea, but they're the only hope. We'll turn
clear over with the next big wave. Stay back!" he yelled. "We are trying
to get the boats ready. Stay back!"
Hugh and Grace from where they clung could see the great black
mountains of water rushing upon them, each wave a most terrifying
spectacle. Then again the whole dark, seething ocean seemed to be below
them and they were flying to the clouds. The breath of relief died
instantly, for again the helpless ship sank into the trough and the
foaming mountains towered about her. Grace hid her eyes and screamed
with terror. Those huge murderous waves already had swept many from the
ship. A score of sailors and as many courageous soldiers were in the
churn of the merciless waters.
Crash! A horrid grating sound, splintering! Then the instantaneous
shock, the awful, stunning force of a frightful blow and a shipful of
human beings were flung violently in all directions, many never to rise
again. The _Tempest Queen_ had struck! The last chance was gone!
"My God!" groaned the captain. "It's all over!" Then he roared: "All
hands! All hands! Stations! To the boats! Stand back there!
Women first!"
Ridgeway, dimly realizing that the end had come, staggered to his feet
and instinctively reached for the body of the woman who lay before him.
He did not know that she was conscious, nor did he know whether the ship
was afloat or sinking. A gigantic wave swept over her, tons of water
pouring in upon them. Blankly he dragged her to the opening which led to
the watery deck, clinging to a railing with all his might. He was
gasping for breath, his life almost crushed out of his body. It
required all his strength to drag the limp form safely away from the
passage, through which now poured their crazed companions, rushing
headlong into the sea.
"In the name of God what shall we do?" he heard a hoarse voice shout in
his ear. It was Veath, also burdened with the helpless form of a woman.
"It is death here and death there. I am going to trust to the life
preservers," gasped Ridgeway, as another wave struck. The constant
crackling and crashing told him that the Tempest Queen was being
ground to pieces on the rock and that she had but a few minutes to live.
"Wait, Hugh, we may get off in a boat," cried the other, but he was not
heard. Hugh was in the sea!
Just as Veath began his anguished remonstrance the ship gave a
tremendous lurch, an overpowering wave hurled itself upon the frail
shell and Hugh Ridgeway's frenzied grasp on the rail was broken. When he
saw that he was going, he threw both arms about the girl he had brought
to this awful fate, and, murmuring a prayer, whirled away with the
waters over the battered deck-house and into the black depths.
They shot downward into the sea and then came to the hideous surface,
more dead than alive. His one thought was that nobody in the world would
ever know what had become of Hugh Ridgeway and Grace Vernon.