The mate, glad of an occupation in these tense minutes, flew down to
the engine-room door. "Skipper says shake 'er up more!" he bawled. The
head of the chief engineer appeared, a grizzly head now wet with oil
and sweat. "What?" he shouted angrily. It was as if he had been
propelling the ship with his own arms. Now he was told that his best
was not good enough. "What? shake 'er up more? Why she can't carry
another pound, I tell you! Not another ounce! We----" Suddenly he ran
forward and climbed to the bridge. "Captain," he cried in the loud
harsh voice of one who lived usually amid the thunder of machinery,
"she can't do it, sir! Be-Gawd, she can't! She's turning over now
faster than she ever did in her life and we'll all blow to hell----"
The low-toned, impassive voice of the captain suddenly checked the
chief's clamour. "I'll blow her up," he said, "but I won't git ketched
if I kin help it." Even then the listening correspondents found a
second in which to marvel that the captain had actually explained his
point of view to another human being.
The engineer stood blank. Then suddenly he cried: "All right, sir!" He
threw a hurried look of despair at the correspondents, the deck of the
_Adolphus_, the pursuing enemy, Cuba, the sky and the sea; he vanished
in the direction of his post.
A correspondent was suddenly regifted with the power of prolonged
speech. "Well, you see, the game is up, damn it. See? We can't get out
of it. The skipper will blow up the whole bunch before he'll let his
ship be taken, and the Spaniards are gaining. Well, that's what comes
from going to war in an eight-knot tub." He bitterly accused himself,
the others, and the dark, sightless, indifferent world.
This certainty of coming evil affected each one differently. One was
made garrulous; one kept absent-mindedly snapping his fingers and
gazing at the sea; another stepped nervously to and fro, looking
everywhere as if for employment for his mind. As for Shackles he was
silent and smiling, but it was a new smile that caused the lines about
his mouth to betray quivering weakness. And each man looked at the
others to discover their degree of fear and did his best to conceal his
own, holding his crackling nerves with all his strength.
As the _Adolphus_ rushed on, the sun suddenly emerged from behind grey
clouds and its rays dealt titanic blows so that in a few minutes the
sea was a glowing blue plain with the golden shine dancing at the tips
of the waves. The coast of Cuba glowed with light. The pursuers
displayed detail after detail in the new atmosphere. The voice of the
cook was heard in high vexation. "Am I to git dinner as usual? How do
I know? Nobody tells me what to do? Am I to git dinner as usual?"
The mate answered ferociously. "Of course you are! What do you s'pose?
Ain't you the cook, you damn fool?"
The cook retorted in a mutinous scream. "Well, how would I know? If
this ship is goin' to blow up----"