At the first shout Lovaas, with surprising speed for a man of his bulk, had leapt to his feet and reached the door. 'Hvar er hendt?' he roared.
Over his shoulder I caught a glimpse of a man whose face was running in blood looking up from the rail below. 'Del er Schreuder,' he shouted back. Then he pointed over the starboard rail. 'Han unnslapp og hoppet overbord.'
'De fordomte udugelig idiot'.' Lovaas roared and swung himself on to the bridge ladder.
'What's happened?' I asked as I followed him.
'Schreuder,' he answered. 'He's escaped and dived overboard.' He flung open the door to the bridge. The mate was there, peering through binoculars. 'Kan De se ham?' Lovaas demanded.
'AW,' the mate answered. And then suddenly: 'Jo, Jo — der borte'
I followed the direction of his arm. On the edge of the mist's visibility a black blob showed for an instant on the colourless surface of the sea. Then.it was gone. 'Full fan forover babord motor. Full fart akterover styrbord motor.' Lovaas was peering into the opaque void. 'Roret hardt over til babord, Henrik\' Again I saw the black blob as our bows swung. It turned and looked back and I saw then that it was a man's head. He raised his arms out of the water. He was struggling to get clear of his clothes. Then the head vanished. I had no idea what the temperature of the water was. But I knew it must be pretty cold. No man would try such a swim in these waters unless he were desperate. And at the moment that he had disappeared he had been heading out to sea. The poor wretch must have lost his sense of direction. From where I stood, balancing myself to the heel of the ship as she turned, I could see the vague shape of the island. But from water-level it was probably invisible.
I glanced quickly at Lovaas. He was peering into the mist at the point where the man's head had disappeared. The fierce grip of his hand on the edge of the bridge betrayed his impatience at the slowness of the turn. I glanced down at Diviner straining at the warps that secured her to the catcher. If we could pick Schreuder up and not Lovaas… I was down the ladder in a flash. 'Dick! Curtis!' I shouted. 'Cut her clear. Quick!'
I heard Lovaas bellowing in Norwegian to his crew as I slipped across the engine-room hatches and down the ladder to her main deck. Somebody tried to bar my way at the foot of the ladder. I lashed out with my foot and then jumped straight over on to Diviner's deck. Dick and Wilson each had an axe. Two blows severed the warps and as I picked myself up off the deck, the engines started and we drew clear of the catcher.
Lovaas was out on the catwalk. He shook his fist at me as he hurried down to the bows to act as lookout. I saw his hand touch the heavy harpoon gun and then he glanced across at us. 'Hard a'port!' I shouted to Jill who was at the wheel.