d Lister let go the wheel and got his breath. He had used no
effort, but he gasped and his hand shook.

The gong signaled _half-speed_, and when he slowed his engines the roar
of escaping steam pierced the turmoil of the surf. This was significant,
because he could not have heard the steam a few minutes earlier.
_Terrier_ rolled, but the rolling was not violent and began to get easy.
The gong signaled _stand by, stop_; he shut the valve and presently
heard the anchor plunge and the rattle of running chain. Then _Terrier_
swung languidly and all was quiet but for the monotonous rumble in the
background. Lister gave some orders and went to his room.

In the morning, he put a greasy jacket over his pajamas and went on
deck. The land breeze had dropped and it was very calm. Vague trees
loomed in the fog that hid the beach; there was a belt of dull, heaving
water, and then the spray cloud closed the view. The air was heavy, the
men on deck moved slackly, and Lister's skin was wet by sweat. He felt
dull and shrank from effort, but when he saw Brown in a boat alongside
he jumped on board.

The light was getting brighter and the wreck lay about a hundred yards
off. The stump of her broken funnel, a bare iron mast, a smashed
deckhouse, and a strip of slanted side rose from the languid swell. The
rows of plates were red with rust and encrusted by shells. When the
smooth undulations sank, long weed swung about in the sandy water.
Lister thought the story of the wreck was, on the surface, plain.
Steaming out with a heavy load, _Arcturus_ had struck the bar. The surf
had beaten in her hatches, broken some plates, and afterwards washed her
back across the sand. Then, while the captain tried to reach the beach,
she had sunk in deeper water. The story was plausible, but, if
Cartwright had found the proper clew, it did not account for all.

They rowed round _Arcturus_. She lay with a sharp list and her other
side was under water. The tide was beginning to rise and when it crept
up her slanted deck they pulled back to the tug.

"We'll moor the hulk alongside and rig the diving pumps. I think that's
all to-day," Brown remarked. "When the sun is low I'll go to the factory
up the creek and try to hire some native boys. On this coast, a white
man who does heavy work soon gets fever."

In the afternoon they took two men and rowed up a muddy creek that
flowed into the lagoon, but the factory was farther than they thought
and when they la