The boys hunted out the life-preservers and took two of them up on deck, placing them by the side of the companionway, where they would be easy to grasp in case of necessity. Then the cook announced breakfast and they went down to the cabin with Captain Foster.
They seated themselves at the table and were seasoning their coffee, when, without warning, the bow of the ship was thrown upward with a terrific shock, accompanied by a muffled roar. The floor of the cabin inclined at a high angle, sloping down toward the stem. For a moment the Princess Mary hung in that terrifying position, while Captain Foster and the boys clung to the table, from which all the dishes had been thrown to the floor. Then the ship settled, not only into place again, but farther than she should, so that the floor inclined the other way.
“Get on deck and into your life-preservers, boys,” said Captain Foster quietly, though with a very pale face; “she won’t last five minutes.”
CHAPTER XXI
CASTAWAYS
Sidney and Raymond rushed up the companionway to the deck and began to buckle on the life-preservers, which were still lying where they had been placed. Captain Foster had preceded the boys and was directing the lowering of a boat, but the tackle had jammed, and the boat hung in the air from the davits.
All the small force of men gathered on deck, including the engineers on duty, whom the captain had summoned through the speaking tube. It had been barely a minute since the explosion, but the Princess Mary was rapidly settling forward. Three or four of the men still struggled with the boat, which obstinately refused to descend to the water, while others were cutting the lashings of a life-raft on deck. But the bows of the ship were already awash, and some of the oil tanks must have burst and let their contents out, for the stern rose high in air.
“Let everything go,” ordered Captain Foster, when he saw the desperate condition of the vessel, “and jump, as far out from the ship as you can.”
“Are you ready, Ray?” And Sidney’s voice shook a little. “Let’s keep together if we can.”
There was no time, however, for any one to jump. With not even a quiver the Princess Mary dove head first into the deep. The waters sucked down after her with a strong pull, and then met with a surge overhead.