“The Zoe hails from Key West, but she has been chartered by Vance’s father for the season, and we had permission to cruise in her as far as Savannah, with her regular crew, of course, at which port we were to meet our parents and carry them around to Tampa.
“We had on board day before yesterday a sailing master, an engineer and his assistant. Vance and I acted as stewards. I don’t know where we were when the storm came up, but had heard the master say he should run close up the chain of keys. Of course you know the hurricane began in the night, and since Vance and I were both below, we had no idea of the nearest land.
“I was awakened by the pitching and tossing of the yacht, and as it made me feel rather sick I thought it would be wisest to remain where I was instead of venturing on deck, where there was little chance of seeing anything.
“It was nearly daylight when Vance realized that something unusual was going on, and then he felt so nearly the same as I that it was a case of both remaining where we were until I thought I heard a scream from the deck. Twice it appeared as if some one was calling me by name from a distance, although Vance declared I must be mistaken, and then I managed to get on deck to investigate.
“Even then it seemed as if the little craft was under water more than half the time, and while I stood in the companion-way wondering whether it was safe to attempt to go forward, a wave broke over the stern and literally drowned Vance out of his berth. He yelled for me not to make a fool of myself by keeping the door open at risk of swamping the steamer, but to come back, and just at that instant I saw the engineer in the pilot-house waving his hand for me to join him.
“From the expression of his face, and the fact that he was at the wheel instead of where he belonged, I knew there was something wrong; but since it would have been worse than useless to have gone across the deck just then, and I’m inclined to believe the best sailor in the world couldn’t have done it, I ran below, through the passage into the engine-room, and from there to the pilot-house.
“You can fancy how startled I was at seeing no one attending to the machinery. Both Vance and I had been taking lessons in running the craft, and the engineer continually impressed on our mind the necessity of always keeping a strict watch on the engine. After learning that this portion of the yacht was ‘going it alone,’ I got to the wheel as soon as possible, and there found no one but the engineer.
“Without waiting for me to ask any questions he said that the master and his own assistant had been washed overboard and drowned half an hour ago. It seems the engineer had sent the young fellow to the wheel-house to carry some coffee which had been prepared on the boiler during the night, and the poor man slipped just as he opened the door leading from the deck to the wheel. A big wave carried him over the side, but he clung to the rail, and the sailing master ran out to help him.
“Just at that moment another wave swept the yacht fore and aft, carrying both the unfortunate men with it, and the engineer saw the whole thing without being able to aid them in the slightest. The steamer, with no one at the helm, began to yaw, and would have been swamped then and there if he hadn’t run to the helm. From that moment until I appeared at the companion-way he had been shouting for us. The engine and the fires needed attention, but he couldn’t go below until some one relieved him from the steering.
“I knew a little about such things, and since we were running on a course which it had been the sailing master’s intention to hold until noon, there was nothing to do but keep her by the compass. The engineer went below, and after what seemed like a very long time, Vance, worried because I had not come back, went into the engine-room. Ten minutes later he was with me, looking about as pale as any fellow you ever saw.”