WHEREIN THE "ANDROMEDA" NEARS THE END OF HER VOYAGE
"Five bells, miss! It'll soon be daylight. If you wants to see the
Cross, now's your time!"
Iris had been called from dreamless sleep by a thundering rat-tat on
her cabin door. In reply to her half-awaked cry of "All right," the
hoarse voice of a sailor told her that the Southern Cross had just
risen above the horizon. She had a drowsy recollection of someone
saying that the famous constellation would make its appearance at seven
bells, not at five, and the difference of an hour, when the time
happens to be 2:30 instead of 8:30 a.m. is a matter of some importance.
But, perhaps that was a mistake; at any rate, here was the messenger,
and she resolutely screwed her knuckles into her eyes and began to
dress. In a few minutes she was on deck. A long coat, a Tam o'
Shanter, and a pair of list slippers will go far in the way of costume
at night in the tropics, and the _Andromeda's_ seventeenth day at sea
had brought the equator very near. At dinner on the previous
evening--in honor of the owner's niece fashionable hours were observed
for meals--Mr. Watts mentioned, by chance, that the Cross had been very
distinct during the middle watch, or, in other words, between midnight
and 4 a.m. Iris at once expressed a wish to see it, and Captain Coke
offered a suggestion.
"Mr. Hozier takes the middle watch to-night," said he. "We can ax 'im
to send a man to pound on your door as soon as it rises. Then you must
run up to the bridge, an' 'e'll tell you all about it."
If Iris was conscious of a slight feeling of surprise, she did not show
it. Hitherto, the burly skipper of the _Andromeda_ had made it so
clearly understood that none of the ship's company save himself was to
enjoy the society of Miss Iris Yorke, that she had exchanged very few
words with the one man whose manners and education obviously entitled
him to meet her on an equal plane. Even at meals, he was often absent,
for the captain and chief officer of a tramp steamer are not altruists
where eating is concerned. She often visited the bridge, her favorite
perch being the shady side of the wheel-house, but talking to the
officer of the watch was strictly forbidden. In everything
appertaining to the vessel's navigation the discipline of a man-of-war
was observed on board the _Andromeda_. So Coke's complacency came now
quite unexpectedly, but Iris was learning to school her tongue.
"Thank you very much," she said. "When shall I see him?"
"Oh, you needn't bother. I'll tell 'im meself."
She was somewhat disappointed at this. Hozier would be free for an
hour before he turned in, and they might have enjoyed a nice chat while
he smoked on the poop. In her heart of hearts, she was beginning to
acknowledge that a voyage through summer seas on a cargo vessel, with
no other society than that of unimaginative sailormen, savored of
tedium, indeed, almost of deadly monotony. Her rare meetings with
Hozier marked bright spots in a dull round of hours. During their
small intercourse she had discovered that he was well informed. They
had hit upon a few kindred tastes in books and music; they even
differed sharply in their appreciation of favorite authors, and what
could be more conducive to complete understanding than the attack and
defense of the shrine of some tin god of literature?
While, therefore, it was strange that Captain Coke should actually
propose a visit to the bridge at an unusual time--at a time, too, when
Hozier would be on duty--it struck her as far more curious that he
should endeavor to prevent an earlier meeting. But she had never lost
her intuitive fear of Coke. His many faults certainly did not include
a weak will. He meant what he said--also a good deal that he left
unsaid--and his word was law to everyone on board the _Andromeda_. So
Iris contented herself with meek agreement.
"I shall be delighted to come at any time. I have often read about the
Southern Cross, yet three short weeks ago I little thought----"
"You reely didn't think about it at all," broke in Coke. "If you 'ad,
you'd 'ave known you couldn't cross the line without seein' it."
Here was another perplexing element in the skipper's conduct. That
Iris was a stowaway was forgotten. She was treated with the attention
and ceremony due to the owner's niece. Coke never lost an opportunity
of dinning into the ears of Watts, or Hozier, or the steward, or any
members of the crew who were listening, that Miss Yorke's presence in
their midst was a preordained circumstance, a thing fully discussed and
agreed on as between her uncle and himself, but carried out in an
irregular manner, owing to some girlish freak on her part. The
portmanteau, with its change of raiment, brought convincing testimony,
and Iris's own words when discovered in the lazaretto supplied further
proof, if that were needed. Her name figured in the ship's papers, and
the time of her appearance on board was recorded in the log. Coke
might be a man of one idea, but he held to it as though it were written
in the Admiralty Sailing Directions; not his would be the fault if
David Verity failed to appreciate the logic of his reasoning long
before an official investigation became inevitable.
A keen, invigorating breeze swept the last mirage of sleep from the
girl's brain as she flitted silently along the deck. A wondrous galaxy
of stars blazed in the heavens. In that pellucid air the sky was a
vivid ultramarine. The ship's track was marked by a trail of
phosphorescent fire. Each revolution of the propeller drew from the
ocean treasure-house opulent globes of golden light that danced and
sparkled in the tumbling waters. It was a night that pulsated with the
romance and abandon of the south, a night when the heart might throb
with unutterable longings, and the blood tingle in the veins under the
stress of an emotion at once passionate and mystic.
Iris, spurred on by no stronger impulse than that of the sight-seer,
though not wholly unaware of an element of adventurous shyness in her
expectation of a _tête-à-tête_ with a good-looking young man of her own
status, climbed to the bridge so speedily and noiselessly that Hozier
did not know of her presence until he heard her dismayed cry:
"Is _that_ the Southern Cross?"
[Illustration: "Is that the Southern Cross?"]
He turned quickly.
"You, Miss Yorke?" he exclaimed, and not even her wonder at the
insignificance of the stellar display of which she had heard so much
could cloak the fact that Hozier was unprepared for her appearance.
"Of course, it is I--who else?" she asked. "Did not Captain Coke tell
you to expect me?"
"No."
"How odd! That is what he arranged. A man came and rapped at my door."
"Pardon me one moment."
He leaned over the bridge and hailed the watch. The same hoarse voice
that had roused Iris answered his questions, and, in the faint light
that came from the binnacle, she caught a flicker of amusement on his
face.
"Our excellent skipper's intentions have been defeated," he said. "He
told one of the men to call him at seven bells, but not to wake you
until the Cross was visible. His orders have been obeyed quite
literally. He will be summoned in another hour, and you have been
dragged from bed to gaze at the False Cross, which every foremast hand
persists in regarding as the real article. The true Cross, of which
Alpha Crucis is the Southern Pole star, comes up over the horizon an
hour after the false one."
"But Captain Coke said he would see you and warn you of my visit."
"I can only assure you that he did not. Perhaps he thought it
unnecessary--meaning to be on deck himself."
"Must I wait here a whole hour, then?"
Hozier laughed. It was amusing to find how Coke's marked effort to
keep the girl and him apart had been defeated by a sailor's blunder.
"I hope the waiting will not weary you," he said. "It is a beautiful
night. You will not catch cold if you are well wrapped up, and, no
matter what you may think of the real Cross when you see it, you will
never have a better chance of star-gazing. Look at Sirius up there,
brighter than the moon; and Orion, too, incomparably grander than any
star in southern latitudes. Our dear old Bear of the north ranks far
beyond the Southern Cross in magnificence; but mist and smoke and dust
contrive to rob our home atmosphere of the clearness which adds such
luster to the firmament nearer the equator."
Under other circumstances, Iris would have reveled in just such an
opportunity of acquiring knowledge easily. Astronomy, despite its
limitations, is one of the exact sciences; it has the charm of
wonderland; it makes to awe-stricken humanity the mysterious appeal of
the infinite; but to-night, when the heart fluttered, and the soul
pined for sympathy, she was in a mood to regard with indifference the
instant extinction of the Milky Way.
"I am glad of the accident that brought me on deck somewhat earlier
than was necessary," she said. "You and I have not said much to each
other since you routed me out of the lazaretto, Mr. Hozier."
"Our friends at table are somewhat--difficult. If only you knew how I
regretted----"
"Oh, what of that? When I became a stowaway I fully expected to be
treated as one. I suppose, though, that you have often asked yourself
why I was guilty of such a mad trick?"
"Not exactly mad, Miss Yorke, but needless, since Captain Coke partly
expected to have your company."
"That is absurd. He had not the remotest notion----"
"Forgive me, but there you are wrong. He says that your uncle and he
discussed the matter on the Sunday before we left Liverpool. His
theory is rather borne out by the present state of the ship's larder.
I assure you that few tramp steamers spread a table like the
_Andromeda's_ mess during this voyage."
Iris laughed, with a spontaneous merriment that was rather astonishing
in her own ears.
"Being the owner's niece, I am well catered for?" she cried.
"Something of the sort. It is only natural."
"But I think I have read in the newspapers that when some unhappy
creature is condemned to death by the law, he is supplied with luxuries
that would certainly be denied to any ordinary criminal?"
"Such doubtful clemency can hardly apply to you, Miss Yorke."
"It might apply to the ship, or to that human part of her that thinks,
and remembers, and is capable of--of giving evidence."
She paused, fearing lest, perhaps, she might have spoken too plainly.
Coke's counter-stroke in alluding to her dread of the proposed marriage
was hidden from her ken; Hozier, of course, was thinking of nothing
else. For the moment, then, they were at cross purposes.
"Things are not so bad as that," he said gently. "I hope I am not
trespassing on forbidden ground, but it is only fair to tell you that
the skipper was quite explicit, up to a point. He said you were being
forced into some matrimonial arrangement that was distasteful----"
"And to escape from an undesirable suitor I ran away?"
"Well, the story sounded all right."
"Hid myself on my uncle's ship when I wished to avoid marrying the man
of his choice?"
Hozier was not neglecting his work, but he did then take his eyes off
the starlit sea for a few amazed seconds. There was no mistaking the
scornful ring in the girl's words. He could see the deep color that
flooded her cheeks; the glance that met his sparkled with an intensity
of feeling that thrilled while it perplexed.
"Please pardon me if the question hurts, but if that is not your
motive, and there never was any real notion of your coming with us on
the this trip, why are you here?" he said.
"Because I am a foolish girl, I suppose; because I thought that my
presence might interpose a serious obstacle between a criminal and the
crime he had planned to commit. If one wants to avoid hateful people a
change of climate is a most effectual means, and I had not the money
for ordinary travel. Believe me, Mr. Hozier, I am not on board the
Andromeda without good reason. I have often wished to have a talk with
you. I think you are a man who would not betray a confidence. If you
agree to help me, something may yet be done. At first, I was sure that
Captain Coke would abandon his wicked project as soon as he discovered
that I knew what was in his mind. But now, I am beginning to doubt.
Each day brings us nearer South America, and--and----"
She was breathless with excitement. She drew nearer to the silent, and
impassive man at her side; dropping her voice almost to a whisper, she
caught his arm with an appealing hand.
"I am afraid that my presence will offer no hindrance to his scheme,"
she murmured. "I am terrified to say such a thing, but I am certain,
quite _certain_, that the ship will be lost within the next few days."
Hozier, though incredulous, could not but realize that the girl was
saying that which she honestly thought to be true.
"Lost! Do you mean that, she will be purposely thrown away?" he asked,
and his own voice was not wholly under control, for he was called on to
repress a sudden temptation to kiss away the tears that glistened in
her brown eyes.
"Yes, that is what he said--on the rocks, this side of Monte Video."
"He said--who?"
"The--the captain."
"To whom did he say it?"
"Oh, Mr. Hozier, do not ask that, but believe me and help me."
"How?"
"I do not know. I am half distracted with thinking. What can we do?
Captain Coke simply swept aside my first attempt to speak plainly to
him. But, make no mistake--he knows that I heard his very words, and
there is something in his manner, a curious sort of quiet confidence,
that frightens me."
After that, neither spoke during many minutes. The _Andromeda_ jogged
along steadily south by west, and the threshing of the propeller beat
time to the placid hum of her engines. The sturdy old ship could
seemingly go on in that humdrum way forever, forging ahead through the
living waters, marking her track with a golden furrow.
"That is a very serious thing you have told me, Miss Yorke," muttered
Hozier at last, not without a backward glance at the sailor in the
wheel-house to assure himself that the man could not, by any chance,
overhear their conversation.
"But it is true--dreadfully true," said Iris, clasping her hands
together and resting them on the high railing of the bridge.
"It is all the more serious inasmuch as we are helpless," he went on.
"Don't you see how impossible it is even to hint at it in any
discussion with the man principally concerned? I want to say this,
though--you are in no danger. There is no ship so safe as one that is
picked out for wilful destruction. Men will not sacrifice their own
lives even to make good an insurance policy, and I suppose that is what
is intended. So you can sleep sound o' nights--at any rate until we
near the coast of Brazil. I can only promise you if any watchfulness
on my part can stop this piece of villainy---- Hello, there! What's
up? Why is the ship falling away from her course?"
The sudden change in his voice startled the girl so greatly that she
uttered a slight shriek. It took her an appreciable time to understand
that he was speaking to the man at the wheel. But the sailor knew what
he meant.
"Something's gone wrong with the wheel, sir," he bawled. "I wasn't
certain at first, so I tried to put her over a bit to s'uth'ard. Then
she jammed for sure."
Hozier leaped to the telegraph and signaled "slow" to the engine-room.
Already the golden pathway behind the _Andromeda_ had changed from a
wavering yet generally straight line to a well-defined curve. There
was a hiss and snort of escaping steam as the sailor inside the
chart-house endeavored to force the machinery into action.
"Steady there!" bellowed Hozier. "Wait until we have examined the
gear-boxes. There may be a kink in a chain."
A loud order brought the watch scurrying along the deck. Some of the
men ran to examine the bearings of the huge fan-shaped casting that
governed the movements of the rudder, while others began to tap the
wooden shields which protected the steering rods and chains. In the
midst of the hammering and excitement, Captain Coke swung himself up to
the bridge.
"Well, I'm blowed! _You_ here?" he said, looking at Iris. "Wot is it
now?" he asked, turning sharply to Hozier. "Wheel stuck again?"
"Yes, sir. Has it happened before?"
"Well--er--not this trip. But it 'as 'appened. Just for a minnit I
was mixin' it up with the night you nearly ran down that bloomin'
hooker off the Irish coast. Ah, there she goes! Everything O.K. now.
W'en daylight comes we'll overhaul the fixin's. Nice thing if the
wheel jammed just as we was crossin' the Recife!"
Hozier tried to ascertain from the watch if they had found the cause of
the disturbance, but the men could only guess that a chance blow with
an adze had straightened a kink in one of the casings. Coke treated
the incident with nonchalance.
"Thought you was to be called w'en the Cross hove in sight, Miss
Yorke?" he said abruptly.
"I am sorry to have to inform you that some people on board cannot
distinguish between falsity and truth," she answered. "But please
don't be angry with any of the men on my account. Mr. Hozier tells me
they often confuse the False Cross with the real one, and the mistake
has been enjoyable. Now I know all about it--what were those stars you
were telling me the names of, Mr. Hozier?"
Philip took the cue she offered.
"Sirius, and Orion, and Ursa Major. I shall write the names and
particulars for you after breakfast," he said with a smile.
"Reg'lar 'umbug the Southern Cross," grunted Coke; "it ain't a patch on
the Bear."
"Mr. Hozier said something like that," put in Iris mischievously.
"Did 'e? Well 'e's right for once. But don't you go an' take as
Gospel most things 'e says. Every shipmaster knows that the second
officer simply can't speak the truth. It ain't natural. W'y, it 'ud
bust a steam pipe if 'e tole you wot 'e really thought of the ole man."
Coke grinned at his own pleasantry. To one of his hearers, at least,
it seemed to be passing strange that he was so ready to forget such a
vital defect in the steering gear as had manifested its existence a few
minutes earlier.
At any rate, he remained on the bridge until long after Iris had seen
and admired the cluster of stars which oldtime navigators used to
regard with awe. When shafts of white light began to taper,
pennon-like, in the eastern sky, the girl went back to her cabin.
Contrary to Hozier's expectation, Coke did not attempt to draw from him
any account of their conversation prior to the inexplicable mishap to
the wheel. He examined a couple of charts, made a slight alteration in
the course, and at four o'clock took charge of the bridge.
"Just 'ave a look round now while things is quiet," he said, nodding to
Hozier confidentially. "I'll tell you wot I fancy: a rat dragged a bit
of bone into a gear-box. If the plankin' is badly worn anywhere, get
the carpenter to see to it. I do 'ate to 'ave a feelin' that the wheel
can let you down. S'pose we was makin' Bahia on the homeward run, an'
that 'appened! It 'ud be the end of the pore ole ship; an' oo'd credit
it? Not a soul. They'd all say 'Jimmie threw 'er away!' Oh, I know
'em, the swine--never a good word for a man while 'e keeps straight,
but tar an' feathers the minnit 'e 'as a misforchun!"
Hozier found a gnawed piece of ham-bone lying in the exact position
anticipated by Coke. An elderly salt who had served with the P. & O.
recalled a similar incident as having occurred on board an Indian mail
steamer while passing through the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. He drew a
lurid picture of the captain's dash across the forms of lady passengers
sleeping inside a curtained space on deck, and his location of the area
of disturbance with an ax just in time to prevent a disaster.
The carpenter busied himself with sawing and hammering during the whole
of the next two days, for the _Andromeda_ revealed many gaps in her
woodwork, but the escapade of an errant ham-bone was utterly eclipsed
by a new sensation. At daybreak one morning every drop of water in the
vessel's tanks suddenly assumed a rich, blood-red tint. This unnerving
discovery was made by the cook, who was horrified to see a ruby stream
pouring into the earliest kettle. Thinking that an iron pipe had
become oxidized with startling rapidity, he tried another tap.
Finally, there could be no blinking the fact that, by some uncanny
means, the whole of the fresh water on board had acquired the color if
not the taste of a thin Burgundy.
Coke was summoned hastily. _Noblesse oblige_; being captain, he
valiantly essayed the task of sampling this strange beverage.
"It ain't p'ison," he announced, gazing suspiciously at the little
group of anxious-faced men who awaited his verdict. "It sartinly ain't
p'ison, but it's wuss nor any teetotal brew I've tackled in all me born
days. 'Ere, Watts, you know the tang of every kind o' likker--'ave a
sup?"
"Not me!" said Watts. "I don't like the look of it. First time I've
ever seen red ink on tap. For the rest of this trip I stick to bottled
beer, or somethink with a label."
"It smells like an infusion of permanganate of potash," volunteered
Hozier.
"Does it?" growled Coke, who seemed to be greatly annoyed. "Wot a pity
it ain't an infusion of whisky an' potash!" and he glared vindictively
at Watts. "Some ijjit 'as bin playin' a trick on us, that's wot it
is--some blank soaker 'oo don't give a hooraw in Hades for tea an'
corfee an' cocoa, but wants a tonic. Stooard!"
"Yes, sir," said the messroom attendant.
"Portion out all the soda water in the lockers, an' whack it on the
table every meal till it gives out. See that nobody puts away more'n
'is proper allowance, too. I'm not goin' to cry hush-baby w'en the
_Andromeda_ gets this sort of kid's dodge worked off on 'er."
"If you're alloodin' to me," put in the incensed "chief," whose temper
rose on this direct provocation, "I want to tell you now----"
"Does the cap fit?" sneered Coke.
"No, it doesn't. I never 'eard of that kind of potash in me life.
D'ye take me for a--chemist's shop?"
"Never 'eard of it!" cried the incensed skipper, who had obviously made
up his mind as to the person responsible for the outrage. "There's
'arf a dozen cases of it in the after hold--or there was, w'en we put
the hatches on."
"Even if some of the cases were broken, sir, the contents could not
reach the tanks," said Hozier, who fancied that Coke's attack on the
bibulous Watts was wholly unwarranted. But the commander's wrath could
not be appeased.
"Get this stuff pumped out, an' 'ave the tanks scoured. We'll put into
Fernando Noronha, an' refill there. It's on'y a day lost, an' I guess
the other liquor on board 'll last till we make the island. Sink me,
if this ain't the queerest run this crimson ship 'as ever 'ad. I'll be
glad w'en it's ended."
Coke lurched away in the direction of the chart-room. Hozier found him
there later, poring over a chart of Fernando Noronha. Iris, on hearing
the steward's version of the affair, came to the bridge for further
enlightenment, but Coke merely told her that the island was a Lloyd's
signal station, so she could cable to her uncle.
"Can I go ashore?" she asked.
"I dunno. We'll see. It's a convict settlement for the Brazils, an'
they're mighty partic'lar about lettin' people land, but they'll 'ardly
object to a nice young lady like you 'avin' a peep at 'em."
As his tone was unusually gruff, not to say jeering, she resolved to
find an opportunity of seeking Hozier's advice on the cablegram
problem. But the portent of the blood-red water was not to be
disregarded. Never was Delphic oracle better served by nature. The
_Andromeda_ began to roll ominously; masses of black cloud climbed over
the southwest horizon; at midday the ship was driving through a heavy
sea. As the day wore, the weather became even more threatening. A sky
and ocean that had striven during three weeks to produce in splendid
rivalry blends of sapphire blue and emerald green and tenderest pink,
were now draped in a shroud of gray mist. With increasing frequency
and venom, vaulting seas curled over the bows, and sent stinging
showers of spray against the canvas shield of the bridge. Instead of
the natty white drill uniform and canvas shoes of the tropics, the
ship's officers donned oilskins, sou'westers, and sea-boots. Torrents
swept the decks, and an occasional giant among waves smote the hull
with a thunderous blow under which every rivet rattled and every plank
creaked. Despite these drawbacks, the _Andromeda_ wormed her way
south. She behaved like the stanch old sea-prowler that she was, and
labored complainingly but with stubborn zeal in the teeth of a stiff
gale.
Iris, of course, thought that she was experiencing the storm of a
century. Badly scared at first, she regained some stock of courage
when Hozier came twice to her cabin, pounded on the door, and shouted
to her such news as he thought would take her mind off the outer
furies! The first time he announced that they were just "crossing the
line," and the girl smiled at the thought that Neptune's chosen lair
was uncommonly like the English Channel at its worst. On the second
occasion her visitor brought the cheering news that they would be under
the lee of Fernando Noronha early next morning. She had sufficient sea
lore to understand that this implied shelter from wind and wave, but
Hozier omitted to tell her that the only practicable roadstead in the
island, being on the weather side, would be rendered unsafe by the
present adverse combination of the elements. In fact, Coke had already
called both Watts and Hozier into council, and they had agreed with him
that the wiser plan would be to bear in towards the island from the
east, and anchor in smooth water as close to South Point as the lead
would permit.
As for Iris's wild foreboding that the ship was intended to be lost,
Philip did not give it other than a passing thought. Coke was
navigating the _Andromeda_ with exceeding care and no little skill. He
was a first-rate practical sailor, and it was an education to the
younger man to watch his handling of the vessel throughout the worst
part of the blow. About midnight the weather moderated. It improved
steadily until a troubled dawn heralded some fitful gleams of the sun.
By that time the magnificent Peak of Fernando Noronha was plainly
visible. Coke came to the bridge and set a new course, almost due
west. The sun struggled with increasing success against the cloud
battalions, and patches of blue appeared in sky and sea. Soon it was
possible to distinguish the full extent of the coast line. Houses
appeared, and trees, and green oases of cultivation, but these were
mere spots of color amid the arid blackness of a land of bleak rock and
stone-strewed hills.
There was a strong current setting from the southeast, and the dying
gale left its aftermath in a long swell, but the _Andromeda_ rolled on
with ever-increasing comfort. Even Iris was tempted forth by the
continued sunshine.
Coke was not on the bridge at the moment. Mr. Watts was taking the
watch; Hozier was on deck forrard, looking for gravel and shells on the
instrument that picks up these valuable indications from the floor of
the sea. Suddenly the captain appeared. He greeted Iris with a genial
nod.
"Ah, there you are," he cried. "Not seen you since this time
yesterday. Sorry, but there'll be no goin' ashore to-day. We're on
the wrong side of the island, an' it 'ud toss you a bit if you was to
try an' land in eether of the boats. Take 'er in easy now, Mr. Watts.
That's our anchorage--over there," and he pointed to the mouth of a
narrow channel between South Point and the Ile des Frégates, the latter
a tiny islet that almost blocks the entrance to a shallow bay into
which runs a rivulet of good but slightly brackish water.
The ship slowed perceptibly, and Hozier busied himself with the lead,
which a sailor was swinging on the starboard side from the small
platform of the accommodation ladder. Iris did not know what was said,
but the queer figures repeated to Coke seemed to be satisfactory.
Headlands and hills crept nearer. The rocky arms of the island closed
in on them. A faint scent as of sweet grasses reached them from the
shore. Iris could see several people, nearly all of them men in
uniform, hurrying about with an air of excitement that betokened the
unusual. Perhaps a steamer's advent on the south side of the island
was a novelty.
Now they were in a fairly smooth roadstead; the remnants of the gale
were shouldered away from the ship by the towering cliff that jutted
out on the left of the bay. The crew were mostly occupied in clearing
blocks and tackle and swinging two life-boats outward on their davits.
"All ready forrard?" roared Coke. Hozier ran to the forecastle. He
found the carpenter there, standing by the windlass brake.
"All ready, sir!" he cried.
Coke nodded to him.
"Give her thirty-five," he said, meaning thereby that the anchor should
be allowed thirty-five fathoms of chain.
From the bridge, where Iris was standing, she could follow each
movement of the commander's hands as he signaled in dumbshow to the
steersman or telegraphed instructions to the engine-room. It was
interesting to watch the alertness of the men on duty. They were a
scratch crew, garnered from the four quarters of the globe at the
Liverpool shipping office, but they moved smartly under officers who
knew their work, and the _Andromeda_ was well equipped in that respect.
The turbulent current was surging across the bows with the speed of a
mill-race, so Coke brought the vessel round until she lay broadside
with the land and headed straight against the set of the stream. It
was his intent to drop anchor while in that position, and help any
undue strain on the cable by an occasional turn of the propeller.
"Keep her there!" he said, half turning to the man at the wheel; he
changed the indicator from "Full speed" to "Slow ahead"; in a few
seconds the anchor chain would have rattled through the
hawse-hole--when something happened that was incomprehensible,
stupefying--something utterly remote and strange from the ways of
civilized men.
The _Andromeda_ quivered under a tremendous buffet. There was a crash
of rending iron and an instant stoppage of the engines. Almost merging
into the noise of the blow came a loud report from the land, but that,
in its turn, was drowned by the hiss of steam from the exhaust.
Coke appeared to be dumfounded for an instant. Recovering himself, he
ran to the starboard side, leaned over, looked down at a torn plate
that showed its jagged edges just above the water-line, and then lifted
a blazing face toward a point half-way up the neighboring cliff, where
a haze lay like a veil of gauze on the weather-scarred rocks.
"You d--d pirates!" he yelled, raising both clenched fists at the
hidden battery which had fired a twelve-pound shell into the doomed
ship.
The _Andromeda_ herself seemed to recognize that she was stricken unto
death. She fell away before the current with the aimless drift of a
log.
"Let go!" bellowed Coke with frenzied pantomime of action to Hozier.
It was too late. Before the lever controlling the steam windlass that
released the anchor could be shoved over, another shell plunged through
the thin iron plates in the bows, smashing a steam pipe, and jamming
the hawser gear by its impact. The missile burst with a terrific
report. A sailor was knocked overboard, the carpenter was killed
outright, two other men were seriously wounded, and Hozier received a
blow on the forehead from a flying scrap of metal that stretched him on
the deck.
The gunners on shore had not allowed for the drifting of the ship.
That second shell was meant to demolish the chart-house and clear the
bridge of its occupants. Striking high and forward, it had robbed the
_Andromeda_ of her last chance. Now she was rolling in the full grip
of the tidal stream. It could only be a matter of a minute or less
before she struck.