"She's a good deal better 'n some," said Jack Jepson coming into the
cabin then to report something to Captain Brisco.
"Then you would not advise us to put on life preservers?" asked Mr.
DeVere.
"Not now, at least," the captain replied. "I have done everything
possible, and the only thing now is to run before the storm. We are in
good shape. The _Mary Ellen_ is a better craft than I gave her credit
for being. The only thing to do is to wait, and hope for the best."
"Have you plenty of lifeboats?" the old actor wanted to know.
"Yes, enough for all hands. They are provisioned and watered, and are
staunch craft. My men have orders to stand by in case of any real
danger, and put the small boats over. But we will stick to the ship
until the last, though that is not saying, mind you, that we will have
to desert her."
"Oh! I couldn't think of going in one of those small boats!" cried Miss
Dixon. "They are so low in the water. I should faint every time I looked
over the side."
"Well if she looked once, and fainted and stayed so, it would be a good
thing for all hands," murmured Paul Ardite.
"Oh, don't say that," Alice reproached him.
"That's how I feel about her," he answered.
"What can be done about picking up the motorboat?" asked Mr. DeVere.
They all looked anxiously toward Captain Brisco.
"I have a man on the lookout," answered the commander. "It may seem to
some of you heartless to go away and leave her."
"It was," murmured gentle Ruth. But she only whispered the words. There
were tears in her eyes.
"But I could do nothing else," resumed Captain Brisco. "As I told you, a
vessel can't remain stationary on the sea. We had to move on before the
gale. And, as I also said, the motorboat has a better chance of going
where she wants to than have we, who must depend on our sails. I have no
doubt but that the two in the _Ajax_ are safe."
But if Captain Brisco, or any of those then huddled in the cabin of the
_Mary Ellen_, could have seen Russ and Mr. Sneed just then they would
not have envied them.
With the racing of the engine, indicating to Russ that the propeller had
dropped off into the sea, he at once shut off the power. Without the
resistance of the screw the machine would soon have racked itself to
pieces.
"Well, what's to be done?" asked Mr. Sneed.
"That's the way to talk," was the response. "We've got to do something,
that's sure."
The storm which at that moment was enveloping the
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