I thought for a moment he was going to fling the cripple overboard. I shouted to him. Instead he smashed a vicious right into the man's face. Dahler ceased to struggle. His muscles went slack and Jorgensen dropped his inert body back across the wheel.
'Stand back, Jorgensen!' I ordered. 'You've no right to do a thing like that. It wasn't Dahler's fault. He's not a sailor. Curtis shouldn't have handed the wheel over to him.'
'Not Dahler's fault!' Jorgensen laughed unsteadily. That wasn't an accident,' he said. 'Ask Miss Somers.'
I looked at Jill. 'What happened?' I asked.
But she seemed too frightened to speak. She just stood, staring down at Dahler's inert body.
CHAPTER THREE
The Voice of 'Hval Ti'
Whether that gybe was intentional or an accident I didn't know. And I hadn't time to think about it then. Dahler's body was crumpled over the wheel, jamming it. The mainsail, still overweighted with canvas in the howling wind, was dragging at the mast. With the port backstay gone and the starboard backstay slack the massive timber of the mast was bending to each gust. I could hear it groaning above the thunder of the seas breaking inboard over the bows. I hauled Dahler's body off the wheel and thrust it into the cockpit. Then I put the helm hard to starb'd and brought the ship up into the wind. 'Haul in on the mainsheet, Jorgensen,' I shouted as the boom began to swing loosely inboardSomehow we got the boat close-hauled and the starboard backstay set up. Then I handed the wheel over to Jill and went for'ard with Jorgensen to get a reef in the mainsail and repair the port backstay. Curtis wasn't badly hurt, but he'd a nasty cut on his shoulder and I sent him below as soon as Wilson arrived on deck. 'Take Dahler with you,' I told him. And then suddenly remembering that he'd originally been at the wheel, I said, 'Why did you hand the wheel over to Dahler and not to Jill as I ordered?'
'Jill wasn't in the cockpit,' he said. 'I saw you were in a jam and as I got up from the wheel, Dahler stepped in right beside me. He'd been at the helm once during the day, so I thought it would be all right. It left Jill as a gash hand. I didn't realise-'
'All right,' I said. '.You get on below and see to that cut. Put Dahler on his bunk. I'll see him later.'