"Then tumble out the starboard watch."
The order was given through the pilot house speaking tube. The sailor down there with the quartermaster went below at lively speed, routing out the sleeping watch.
By the time they were on deck Tom Halstead was manœuvring the motor yacht around to leeward of the wreck.
"Schooner, ahoy!" he bellowed through a megaphone, from the bridge end.
"Yacht ahoy!" came back the faint answer on the breeze. "This is the schooner 'Alert,' Seattle; Jordrey, master."
"What help do you want, 'Alert'?"
"We're ready to abandon our vessel. Send us a boat, if you can."
"Boat it is, then, Captain," Tom bawled back, lustily. "Stand by to help our boat make fast alongside your lee quarter!"
Then, turning, glancing down at the deck, Tom called: