Blow the Man Down - A Romance of the Coast

"Not now," broke in Mayo. "The Atlantic Ocean has attended to the case

of that deckload."

"My Gawd, yes!" mourned the master. "I was forgetting that we are upside

down--and that shows what a state of mind I'm in!"

Mayo had picked his spot for operations. He drove his chisel through the

sheathing as close to the cabin floor as he could. Remembering that

the schooner was upside down and that the floor was over his head, the

aperture he was starting work on would bring him nearest the bilge. When

he had chiseled a hole big enough for a start, he secured the saw from

the mate and sawed a square opening. He lifted himself up and worked his

way through the hole and found himself on lumber and out of water.

It was what he had been hoping to find, after the assurance from the

master: the partial cargo of lumber in the hold had settled to the deck

when the schooner tipped over. Investigating with groping hands, he

assured himself that there were fully three feet of space between the

cargo and the bottom of the vessel.

"Come here with your daughter, Captain Candage!" he called, cheerily.

"It's dry in here."

He kneeled and held his hands out through the opening, directing them

with his voice, reaching into the pitchy darkness until her hands found

his, and then he brought her up to him and in upon the lumber.

"It's a little better, even if it's nothing to brag about," he told her.

"Sit over there at one side so that the men can crawl in past you. I'll

need them to help me."

"And what do you think now--shall we die?" she asked, in tremulous

whisper.

"No, I don't think so," he told her, stoutly.

They were alone in the hold for a few moments while the others were

helping one another through the opening.

"But in this trap--in the dark--crowded in here!" Her tone did not

express doubt; it was pathetic endeavor to understand their plight. "My

father and his men are frightened--they have given up. And you told me

that you are frightened!"

"Yes, I am!"

"But they are not doing anything to help you."

"Perhaps that is because they are not scared as much as I am. It often

happens that the more frightened a man is in a tight place the more he

jumps around and the harder he tries to get out."