Curtis said: "I understand."
"And if the Nazi agents in America knew of the islet from which my zone of silence is projected—" Androka paused, his head tilted to one side, as if he were listening to something—
On deck, there was shouting and commotion. Curtis rushed out, pulling on his slicker as he went. The shout from the watch forward had been picked up, and was being relayed all over the ship. The words struck on Curtis' ears with a note of impending tragedy.
"Breakers ahead!"
He was beside Navigating Officer Nelson on the bridge, and saw the helmsman climbing the rapidly spinning wheel like a monkey as he put it hard aport.
Then the ship struck. Everything movable shot ahead until it brought up at the end of a swing or smacked against something solid.
Curtis felt Nelson's hand grip his shoulder, as he put his lips close to his ear and shouted: "You must have been right, sir, and the radio bearings and my reckoning wrong. We've hit that reef a terrific smack. I'm afraid we're gored!"
"Get out the collision mat!" Curtis ordered. "We ought to be able to keep her up!"
And then he became aware of a deadly stillness. A vast wall of silence enveloped the entire cruiser. Looking over the side, he could no longer see the waves that a few minutes before had beaten savagely against the ship.