“She’s close to us now,” cried Harry. “I wonder what they’ll do.”
“If they’re wise they’ll let go an anchor and ride it out,” answered Jimmie. “If I had sense enough to bring a vessel through a tight place like that I’d get a hook overboard as soon as I could.”
“That’s just what they are doing!” announced Ned. “There’s a group of men at the forward end preparing to get the anchor over.”
Directly the boys heard the rattle of the cable in the steamer’s hawse pipes, followed instantly by a great splash at the bow that told as plainly as words that the ground tackle was out.
Still feeling the heave of waves surging around the head of the island the steamer slowly swung to her cable. The range lights shifted their position. The red side light disappeared.
“She’s safe now!” cried Ned, in a tone of relief. “I’m glad they made it all right. I wonder how they got crippled.”
“Let me take the glasses a minute, Ned,” requested Harry.
“Can you see what’s the matter with her?” queried Jimmie.
“Yes,” replied the boy, with the glasses to his eye. “Von Kluck was right. It looks as if the rudder stock is twisted and bent badly out of shape. As the stern lifts I can see the blades of the propeller all right, but the rudder seems to be missing.”
“The Anne of Melbourne,” mused Ned. “I wonder now what that vessel is doing away off up here. If they had a cargo destined for an English port they should have been much farther south.”