said or did, she repeated this order
over and over again in a roaring voice which no one would have supposed
her capable of, and accompanied by all the oaths which at that moment
were being hurled down from the pilot house.

The engineer did not look up; he did not consider himself nor the
situation. There was but one impression upon his mind made by the
electric flash of the order backed by the following crash of oaths.
Instinctively he seized his lever, reversed the engine, and started the
_Summer Shelter_ backward. Slowly, very slowly, she moved. Burke held
his breath!

But the great steamer was coming on slowly. Her motion was increasing,
but so was that of the yacht, and when, after some moments of almost
paralyzing terror, during which Willy Croup continued to hurl her
furious orders into the engine room, not knowing they had been obeyed,
the two vessels drew near each other, the _Dunkery Beacon_ crossed the
bow of the _Summer Shelter_ a very long biscuit-toss ahead.

"Miss Croup," said Mr. Litchfield, his hand upon her shoulder, "that
will do! The yacht is out of immediate danger."

Willy started up. Her wild eyes were raised to the face of the young
clergyman, the roar of her own invectives sounded in her ears. Tears
poured from her eyes.

"Mercy on me, Mr. Litchfield," she exclaimed, "what have I been saying?"

"Never mind now, Miss Croup," said he. "Don't think of what you said.
She backed!"

CHAPTER XXXII

A HEAD ON THE WATER

With her engines in motion and her wheel in the hands of Captain Burke,
the _Summer Shelter_ was in no danger of being run into by the _Dunkery
Beacon_, for she was much the more easily managed vessel.

As soon as they had recovered a moderate command of their senses,
Burdette and Portman hurried below to find out what damage had been
sustained by the yacht; but, although she must have been greatly
strained and might be leaking through some open seams, the tough keelson
of the well-built vessel, running her length like a stiff backbone, had
received and distributed the shock, and although her bowsprit was
shivered to pieces and her cut-water splintered, her sides were
apparently uninjured. Furniture, baggage, coils of rope, and everything
movable had been pitched forward and heaped in disordered piles all over
the vessel. A great part of the china had been broken. Books, papers,
and ornaments littered the floors, and even the coal was heaped up in
the forward part o