Minutes passed; they seemed like hours to me.
"It's all right now." It was the "doctor's" voice, and the next moment I heard him approach the forecastle. "I'll bring him out," he said; and his shadow came between me and the dim light glooming through the hatch opening.
CHAPTER X
IN THE HANDS OF THE POLICE
I had been afraid to shift my position lest the change should rouse any suspicions on the part of the "doctor," and his first attempt was to drag me out while he remained outside.
He seized my left arm and tried to pull me forward, but I had hitched my feet under a board of the flooring, and the attempt failed.
"Come here, Marlen. I'll hand him out to you," he said, turning his head for a moment. "He's got caught up in something or other."
"I can't leave the wheel."
"Stop the launch a minute then."
"It's your own job; do it yourself," was the surly reply.