ROBERT BARR Ultimate Collection: 20 Novels & 65+ Detective Stories. Robert Barr

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СКАЧАТЬ was thrashing the water with her screw, and gradually the masts came in line and then her prow faced the east again. When this had been slowly accomplished the bell on the Adamant rang full speed ahead, and then the captain came slowly down the ladder that led from the bridge.

      "Oh, captain, what does it all mean?"

      "Is she going back, captain? Nothing wrong, I hope."

      "What ship is it, captain?"

      "She belongs to our line, doesn't she?"

      "Why is she going back?"

      "The ship," said the captain slowly, "is the Vulcan, of the Black Bowling Line, that left Queenstown shortly after we left New York. She has met with an accident. Ran into some wreckage, it is thought, from the recent storm. Anyhow there is a hole in her, and whether she sees Queenstown or not will depend a great deal on what weather we have and whether her bulkheads hold out. We will stand by her till we reach Queenstown."

      "Are there many on board, do you think, captain?"

      "There are thirty-seven in the cabin and over 800 steerage passengers," answered the captain.

      "Why don't you take them on board, out of danger, captain?"

      "Ah, madam, there is no need to do that. It would delay us, and time is everything in a case like this. Besides, they will have ample warning if she is going down and they will have time to get everybody in the boats. We will stand by them, you know."

      "Oh, the poor creatures," cried the sympathetic Mrs. Second-Adjutant. "Think of their awful position. May be engulfed at any moment. I suppose they are all on their knees in the cabin. How thankful they must have been to see the Adamant."

      On all sides there was the profoundest sympathy for the unfortunate passengers of the Vulcan. Cheeks paled at the very thought of the catastrophe that might take place at any moment within sight of the sister ship. It was a realistic object lesson on the ever-present dangers of the sea. While those on deck looked with new interest at the steamship plunging along within a mile of them, the captain slipped away to his room. As he sat there there was a tap at his door.

      "Come in," shouted the captain.

      The silent Englishman slowly entered.

      "What's wrong, captain," he asked.

      "Oh, the Vulcan has had a hole stove in her and I signalled——"

      "Yes, I know all that, of course, but what's wrong with us?"

      "With us?" echoed the captain blankly.

      "Yes, with the Adamant? What has been amiss for the last two or three days? I'm not a talker, nor am I afraid any more than you are, but I want to know."

      "Certainly," said the captain. "Please shut the door, Sir John."

      * * * * *

      Meanwhile there was a lively row on board the Vulcan. In the saloon

       Capt. Flint was standing at bay with his knuckles on the table.

      "Now what the devil's the meaning of all this?" cried Adam K. Vincent, member of Congress.

      A crowd of frightened women were standing around, many on the verge of hysterics. Children clung, with pale faces, to their mother's skirts, fearing they knew not what. Men were grouped with anxious faces, and the bluff old captain fronted them all.

      "The meaning of all what, sir?"

      "You know very well. What is the meaning of our turning-round?"

      "It means, sir, that the Adamant has eighty-five saloon passengers and nearly 500 intermediate and steerage passengers who are in the most deadly danger. The cotton in the hold is on fire, and they have been fighting it night and day. A conflagration may break out at any moment. It means, then, sir, that the Vulcan is going to stand by the Adamant."

      A wail of anguish burst from the frightened women at the awful fate that might be in store for so many human beings so near to them, and they clung closer to their children and thanked God that no such danger threatened them and those dear to them.

      "And dammit, sir," cried the Congressman, "do you mean to tell us that we have to go against our will—without even being consulted—back to Queenstown?"

      "I mean to tell you so, sir."

      "Well, by the gods, that's an outrage, and I won't stand it, sir. I must be in New York by the 27th. I won't stand it, sir."

      "I am very sorry, sir, that anybody should be delayed."

      "Delayed? Hang it all, why don't you take the people on board and take 'em to New York? I protest against this. I'll bring a lawsuit against the company, sir."

      "Mr. Vincent," said the captain sternly, "permit me to remind you that I am captain of this ship. Good afternoon, sir."

      The Congressman departed from the saloon exceeding wroth, breathing dire threats of legal proceedings against the line and the captain personally, but most of the passengers agreed that it would be an inhuman thing to leave the Adamant alone in mid-ocean in such terrible straits.

      "Why didn't they turn back, Captain Flint?" asked Mrs. General Weller.

      "Because, madam, every moment is of value in such a case, and we are nearer Queenstown than New York."

      And so the two steamships, side by side, worried their way toward the east, always within sight of each other by day, and with the rows of lights in each visible at night to the sympathetic souls on the other. The sweltering men poured water into the hold of the one and the pounding pumps poured water out of the hold of the other, and thus they reached Queenstown.

      * * * * *

      On board the tender that took the passengers ashore at Queenstown from both steamers two astonished women met each other.

      "Why! Mrs.—General—WELLER!!! You don't mean to say you were on board that unfortunate Vulcan!"

      "For the land's sake, Mrs. Assistant Brownrig! Is that really you? Will wonders never cease? Unfortunate, did you say? Mightily fortunate for you, I think. Why! weren't you just frightened to death?"

      "I was, but I had no idea anyone I knew was on board."

      "Well, you were on board yourself. That would have been enough to have killed me."

      "On board myself? Why, what do you mean? I wasn't on board the Vulcan. Did you get any sleep at all after you knew you might go down at any moment?"

      "My sakes, Jane, what are you talking about? Down at any moment? It was you that might have gone down at any moment or, worse still, have been burnt to death if the fire had got ahead. You don't mean to say you didn't know the Adamant was on fire most of the way across?"

      "Mrs.—General—Weller!! There's some horrible mistake. It was the Vulcan. Everything depended on her bulkheads, the captain said. There was a hole as big as a barn door in the Vulcan. The pumps were going night and day."

      Mrs. General looked at Mrs. СКАЧАТЬ