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When Mr Meldrum gained the deck, in company with the captain, he found the wind still blowing with terrific force and a dangerous sea on, although as the gale had not shifted during the last hour from the north-west, to which quarter it had finally veered, there was some hope that they had escaped from the worst of the cyclone and were now being hurried along its outside edge.
Before he could draw his revolver, Meldrum would be pumping lead. Two months ago under similar circumstances terror had paralyzed Roy's thinking power. Now his brain functioned in spite of his fear. He was shaken to the center of his being, but he was not in panic. Immediately he set himself to play the poor cards he found in his hand. "Liar!"
Coming out of the house together, they had approached the spot where Mr Meldrum was standing. "Yes, my child, we have much to be thankful for," said he in answer to Kate's observation. "You need not fear now, my dear," he added. "I was not frightened, even when the earth trembled, papa." "No!" said he inquiringly.
"Gamest thing I ever saw in my life, by Jiminy stood there with his back to the man-killer and lit a cigarette while the ruffian had his finger on the trigger of a six-gun ready to whang away at him. Can you beat that?" The eyes of the cattleman gleamed, but his drawling voice was still casual. "Why didn't Meldrum shoot?" "Triumph of mind over matter, I reckon.
However, the men are now breaking in the deck above, and as soon as we are able to get the end of the hose down and pass buckets, all may be well. Keep a good heart, Miss Meldrum, there's no absolute danger yet; when there is I will tell you. So, please, prevent that `Mrs Major' from going into hysterics!" "I will, for I trust you," said Kate with a somewhat sad smile on her pale face.
My father is a rich man, one of the largest ship-owners in Liverpool, and my taking to the sea has been strongly against his wish, although he consented to it when he saw how bent I was upon being a sailor. He could make me independent to-morrow if I asked him." "I prefer you as you are, Frank," responded Mr Meldrum; "and I'm sure so does Kate, eh?"
"Don't `my dear madam' me, sir," returned the lady indignantly; "my name is Mrs Major Negus, and I insist on being treated with proper respect. Where is the captain of the vessel, sir?" "Down there," said Mr Meldrum laconically, pointing to the open hatchway.
"Zee-oliphant," said Karl Ericksen, the Norwegian sailor, in his broken English. "He is not harmful: he good for man eat." "Snakes and alligators! that's prime anyhow, I reckon," put in Mr Lathrope. "I guess this air animile'll save your old stores, mister, hey?" "I hope so," answered Mr Meldrum.
"I'll do it at once, sir," answered the steward with alacrity, the threat of being abandoned in the sinking vessel being quite sufficient to expedite his movements; and he at once made for the after hatch to get down into the hold, Mr Meldrum satisfying himself that he had set about the task before leaving him, and then, with a kindly word or two to Kate and Mr Lathrope, going on deck again.
Kate Meldrum was the first to break the melancholy silence that reigned as they rowed away from the old ship, all looking back sadly at her battered hull, whose crippled condition could now be better seen the bows all rent and torn by the violence of the waves, the gaping sides, the gutted hold washed out by the water, and the sea around covered with pieces of shattered planking from the 'tween-decks, besides the curved knees and other larger parts of the timber work, that had been wrenched off during the vessel's battle with the elements, and numbers of packing-cases and empty casks and barrels that were floating about, the flotsam and jetsam of the cargo.
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