"Hi, you there! That's my money-belt!" he cried, and jumped forward to
claim his own. But in his movement he failed to calculate with the
waves. The yacht gave another of her deep-sea plunges, and Jimmy,
thrown against his bunk, saw the cook grab his kit and make for the
ladder. He regained his feet only in time to follow at arm's length up
the hatchway. At the top he threw himself down, like a baseball runner
making his base, after the seaman's legs; but instead of a foot, he
found himself clutching one of the wads of clothes that trailed after
the cook's bundle. He caught it firmly and kept it, but the ship's
cook and the rest of his booty disappeared like a rabbit into its
burrow.
Jim sat down at the top of the ladder and examined his haul. It was a
pair of woolen trousers, and they were of generous size. He spread
them out on the deck. Round him were unmistakable signs of
demoralization. The second officer was ordering the men to the pumps
in stern tones; the yacht was pitching wildly and growing darkness was
settling on the face of the turbulent waters. But in spite of it all,
Jimmy's spirit leaped forth in laughter as he thought of his brief,
frantic chase, and its result in this capture of the characteristic
vestiture of man.
"What's money for, anyway!" he laughed, as he got up and clothed
himself once more.
There followed hours of superhuman struggle to save the _Jeanne D'Arc_.
Her crew, sufficient in ordinary weather, was too small to cope with
the storm and the leaking ship. Ballast had to be shifted or flung
overboard. Repairs had to be attempted in the hold; the pumps had to
be worked incessantly, It transpired that the yacht had gone far out of
her course during the fog the night before, and had tried to turn
inshore, even before the leak was discovered. No one knew what waters
they were that lashed so furiously about the disabled craft. The storm
overhead had abated, but the rage of the sea was unquelled. Before
long the engine was stopped by the rising water, and then the hand
pumps were used. There was some hope that the leak had been discovered
and at least partly repaired. The captain thought that, if carefully
managed, the yacht might hold till daylight.
Jimmy joined the gang and worked like a Trojan, helping wherever a man
was needed, shifting ballast, untackling the boats, handling the pump.
It was at the pump that he found himself, some time during the night,
working endlessly, it seemed. Not once had he lost sight of the real
purpose of his presence on the yacht. If Agatha Redmond were aboard
the unlucky vessel--and he had moments of curious perplexity about
it--he was there to watch for her safety. He pictured her sitting
somewhere in the endangered vessel. She could not but be terrified at
her predicament. Whether shipwreck or abduction threatened her, she
must feel that she had indeed fallen into the hands of her enemies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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