The rest of the journey was not difficult for an athletic man, and Walker

was quickly an indistinct figure in the fog. He gained the truck all

right, and instantly yelled something. Courtenay fancied he said: "My God! We-ah on the wocks!"

Whatever it was, Walker did not wait, but slid downward with such speed

that it was fortunate the rigging barred his progress.

And then, even while Courtenay was shouting for some explanation, a great

black wall rose out of the deep on the port bow. It was a pinnacle rock,

high as the ship's masts, but only a few feet wide at sea level, and the

Kansas sped past this ugly monitor as though it were a buoy in a

well-marked channel.

Courtenay heard the sea breaking against it. The ship could not have

been more than sixty feet distant, a little more than her own beam, and

he fully expected that she would grind against some outlier in the next

instant. But the Kansas had a charmed life. She ran on unscathed, and

seemed to be traveling in smoother water after this escape.

Walker's dark skin was the color of parchment when he reached the

chart-house.

"Captain," he said, weakly, "I 'll do owt wi' engines, but I'm no good at

this game. That thing fairly banged me. Did ye see it?"

"Did you see land?" demanded Courtenay, imperatively. His spirits rose

with each of these thrills. He felt that it was ordained that his ship

should live.

"Yes, sir. The-aw 's hills, and big ones, a long way ahead, but I 'm no'

goin' up that mast again. It would be suicide. I'm done. I'll nev-ah

fo-get yon stone ghost, no, not if I live to be ninety."

Then Joey, sniffing the morning, uncurled himself, stretched, yawned

loudly, and thought of breakfast, for he had passed a rather disturbed

night, the second in one week. To cope with such excitement, a dog

needed sustenance.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024