Part 4 (1/2)

He threw hi fencer, to reach after his oilskin coat; and afterwards he staggered all over the confined space while he jerked his far apart, and stretching his neck, he started to tie deliberately the strings of his sou'-wester under his chin, with thick fingers that treh all the lass, with a strained, listening attention, as though he had expected every moment to hear the shout of his name in the confused clamour that had suddenly beset his shi+p Its increase filled his ears while he was getting ready to go out and confront whatever it ht mean It was tumultuous and very loud--made up of the rush of the wind, the crashes of the sea, with that prolonged deep vibration of the air, like the roll of an iale

He stood for a ht of the lailant and red-faced

”There's a lot of weight in this,” he muttered

As soon as he atte to the handle, he was dragged out over the doorstep, and at once found hied with the wind in a sort of personal scuffle whose object was the shutting of that door At the last ue of air scurried in and licked out the flareat darkness lying upon a multitude of white flashes; on the starboard bea stars drooped, dim and fitful, above an ih a e a knot of reat efforts in the light of the wheelhouse s that shone mistily on their heads and backs Suddenly darkness closed upon one pane, then on another The voices of the lost group reached hiale, in shreds and frag snatched past the ear All at once Jukes appeared at his side, yelling, with his head down

”Watch--put in--wheelhouse shutters--glass--afraid--blow in”

Jukes heard his co--callon his lips

”Light air--reht--you--sure--hear”

They had gained the shelter of the weather-cloth, and could converse with raised voices, as people quarrel

”I got the hands along to cover up all the ventilators Good job I had remained on deck I didn't think you would be asleep, and soWhat did you say, sir? What?”

”Nothing,” cried Captain MacWhirr ”I said--all right”

”By all the powers! We've got it this time,” observed Jukes in a howl

”You haven't altered her course?” inquired Captain MacWhirr, straining his voice

”No, sir Certainly not Wind caht ahead And here coe of the shi+p ended in a shock as if she had landed her forefoot upon soht of sprays drove hard with the wind upon their faces

”Keep her at it as long as we can,” shouted Captain MacWhirr

Before Jukes had squeezed the salt water out of his eyes all the stars had disappeared

III

Jukes was as ready a ht by casting a net upon the waters; and though he had been so viciousness of the first squall, he had pulled hiether on the instant, had called out the hands and had rushed thes about the deck as had not been already battened down earlier in the evening Shouting in his fresh, stentorian voice, ”Ju himself the while that he had ”just expected this”

But at the sa aware that this was rather more than he had expected Froale seemed to take upon itself the accumulated impetus of an avalanche

Heavy sprays enveloped the Nan-Shan froular rolling she began to jerk and plunge as though she had gone ht, ”This is no joke” While he was exchanging explanatory yells with his captain, a sudden lowering of the darkness ca palpable It was as if the hts of the world had been turned down Jukes was uncritically glad to have his captain at hand It relieved hi on deck, taken ht upon his shoulders Such is the prestige, the privilege, and the burden of command

Captain MacWhirr could expect no relief of that sort from any one on earth Such is the loneliness of co to see, with that watchful manner of a seaman who stares into the wind's eye as if into the eye of an adversary, to penetrate the hidden intention and guess the ai wind swept at him out of a vast obscurity; he felt under his feet the uneasiness of his shi+p, and he could not even discern the shadow of her shape He wished it were not so; and very still he waited, feeling stricken by a blind man's helplessness

To be silent was natural to him, dark or shi+ne Jukes, at his elbow, usts, ”We ot the worst of it at once, sir” A faint burst of lightning quivered all round, as if flashed into a cavern--into a black and secret cha crests