The ship has been underlogged a hundred miles,
sir; and but for my caution in lying to for clear weather we should be
groping among the Fern Isl----"
CRASH!
An unheard-of shock threw the speaker and all the rest in a mass on the
floor, smashed every lamp, put out every light; and, with a fierce
grating noise, the ship was hard and fast on the French coast, with her
stern to the sea.
One awful moment of silence; then, amidst shrieks of agony, the sea
struck her like a rolling rock, solid to crush, liquid to drown, and the
comb of a wave smashed the cabin windows and rushed in among them as they
floundered on the floor, and wetted and chilled them to the marrow. A
voice in the dark cried, "O God! we are dead men."
CHAPTER XIV
"ON deck for your lives!" cried Dodd, forgetting in that awful moment he
was not the captain; and drove them all up, Robarts included, and caught
hold of Mrs. Beresford and Freddy at their cabin door and half carried
them with him. Just as they got on deck the third wave, a high one,
struck the ship and lifted her bodily up, canted her round, and dashed
her down again some yards to leeward, throwing them down on the hard and
streaming deck.
Pages:
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402