Blow the Man Down - A Romance of the Coast

"I suppose so," admitted Mayo.

"And there wasn't any sense, in coming off in this little boat. We ought

to have stayed on the schooner."

"Ralph!" protested the girl. "Have you completely lost your mind? Don't

you know that the schooner sank almost the minute we left it?"

"Mr. Bradish's mind was very much occupied at the time," said Captain

Mayo.

"I don't believe the schooner sank. What does a girl know about such

things? That fellow got scared, that's the trouble. There isn't any

sense in leaving a big boat in a storm. We would have been taken off

before this. We would have been all right. This is what comes of letting

a fool boss you around when he is scared," he raved.

"You are the fool!" she cried, with passion. "Captain Mayo saved us."

"Saved us from what? Here we are going into the breakers--and he says

so--and there's no anchor on here. He took everything out of my hands.

Now why doesn't he do something?"

"Don't pay any attention to him," she pleaded.

"We are going to be drowned! You can't deny it, can you? We're going to

die!" He pulled a trembling hand from between his knees, where he had

held both hands pinched in order to steady them. He shook his fist at

Mayo. "Own up, now. We're going to die, aren't we?"

"I think it's right to tell the truth at this stage," said Mayo, in

steady tones. "We're not children. Yonder is a beach with sand-reefs and

breakers, and when we strike the sand this boat will go over and over

and we shall be tossed out. The waves will throw us up and haul us back

like a cat playing with mice. And we stand about the same chance as

mice."

"And that's the best you can do for us--and you call yourself a sailor!"

whined Bradish.

"I'm only a poor chap who has done his best as it came to his hand to

do," said the young man, seeking the girl's eyes with his.

She gazed at him for a moment and then put both hands to her face and

began to sob.

"It's a hard thing to face, but we'd better understand the truth and be

as brave as we can," said Mayo, gently.

"For myself I ain't a mite surprised," averred the cook. "I had my

hunch! I was resigned. But my plans was interfered with. I wanted to go

down in good, deep, green, clean water like a sailor ought to. And now

I'm going to get mauled into the sand and have a painful death."