He yanked a log-book from the rack and noted the steamer's average
speed from the entries. He signaled to the engine-room through the
speaking-tube.
"Give her two hundred a minute, chief!" he ordered.
And fifteen seconds later, her engines pulsing rhythmically, the big
craft was splitting fog and water at express speed, howling for little
fellows to get out from underfoot.
Down in the gleaming depths of her the orchestra was lilting a gay
waltz, silver clattered over the white napery of the dining-room, men
and women laughed and chattered and flirted; men wrote telegrams, making
appointments for the morrow at early hours, and the wireless flashed
them forth. They were sent with the certainty on the part of the senders
that no man in these days waits for tide or fog. The frothing waters
flashed past in the night outside, and they who ventured forth upon the
dripping decks glanced at the fan of white spume spreading into the fog,
and were glad to return to cozy chairs and the radiance of the saloon.
High up forward, in the pilot-house, were the eyes and the brains of
this rushing monster. It was dark there except for the soft, yellow
gleam of the binnacle lights. It was silent but for the low voice of a
mate who announced his notations.
Occasionally the mates glanced at each other in the gloom when a
steamer's whistle sounded ahead. This young captain seemed to be a chap
who carried his nerve with him! They were used to the more cautious
system of Captain Jacobs.
The master did not reduce speed. He leaned far out, his hand at his ear.
The third time an unknown sounded her blast he took a quick glance at
the compass.
"Two points shift--so she shows," he said aloud. "We'll pass her all
right."
The change in the direction of the sound had assured him. A few minutes
later the whistle voiced a location safely abeam. But the next whistle
they heard sounded dead ahead, and increased in volume of sound only
gradually. They were overtaking a vessel headed in the same direction.
Captain Mayo pulled the cord oftener and sounded more prolonged, more
imperious hoots. He ordered no change in his course. He was headed
for the Point Judith whistler, and did not propose to take chances on
fumbling by any detours. The craft ahead at last seemed to recognize the
voice of its master. The sound of the whistle showed that it had swung
off the course.
The mate mumbled notations.
"All ears out!" ordered the captain. "We ought to make that whistler!"
And in the next breath he said: "There she is!" He pointed a wet hand
ahead and slightly to port. A queer, booming grunt came to them. "You're
all right, old girl," he declared. "Jacobs wasn't over-praising you."
He reached over the sill and patted the woodwork of his giant pet.
He turned to the quartermaster. "East, five-eighths south," was his
direction.