“That was the hinmost Ah saw o’ the Huns for that nicht, and the last I mind o’ the Bow was the dead and deein’ wha covert the fo’c’sl’, wi’ the licht o’ the fires burnin’ aft flickerin’ ower them. Then cam’ a cry frae the bridge that a ’stroyer was closin’ us to port, and then Ah mind hearin’ the captain shoutin’ an order ower and ower, like he wasna bein’ answered frae the ither end o’ the voice-pipe. ‘Hard-a-port!’ he roared, but weel micht he shout for ay, for the qua’termaster, wi’ a’ on the signal bridge, was dead by noo, and the helm was left jammed hard-a-sta’bo’d.
“Then Ah felt her shudder as the engines went full speed astern, and Ah got to ma feet in time to see she was headin’ straicht for the fo’c’sl’ o’ a T.B.D. that was steerin’ cross her bows. And richt after that she must ha’ struck wi’ a michty crash. The next thing Ah mindit—weel, Ah didna
mind much save that I was lyin’ on ma back in a sort o’ narrow way atween twa high wa’s, wi’ a turrible pain in ma back and mony sea-boots trampin’ ower ma face. The bashin’ o’ the boots didna hurt me, for Ah was kind o’ dazed; but Ah seem to mind turnin’ ma face to the wa’, just like ye do whan the flees are botherin’ ye in the mornin’.
“What brocht me roun’, I’m thinkin’, was the shock that Ah got whan that wa’ ’gan to shak’ up and doon, and then slid richt awa’, leavin’ me hingin’ ower the brink o’ a black hole, wi’ water souchin’ aboot the bottom o’t. ’Twas like wakin’ oot o’ a bad dream and findin’ that the warst o’ it was true.
“Ah was too groggy to ken richt awa’ that the Bow had rammed anither ship and that Ah had been pitched oot o’ her into the wan she’d hit. Quite natteral, Ah thocht masel’ still in the Bow, seem’ that Ah cud be nae mair use on the fo’c’sl’, which was a’ smashed and rippit up and drappin’ to bits, Ah thocht that Ah ought to run aft to see if Ah could gie a haun.
“But when Ah tried to get up, Ah fund the bane o’ ma spine was so sair that Ah cudna stand straicht, and a’ Ah cud do was to craw’ and stagger alang. Every mon Ah knockit agin, and every bit of wreck Ah felt ower, sent me sprawlin’. Whan I fund that there was no so mony funnels as Ah minded afore, and whan Ah cudna find the W.T.
hoose, Ah thocht that they had been shot awa’. Findin’ a crew at stations by a midships gun, Ah speired if they was short o’ hauns. They said they werna, so Ah gaed alang aft, lookin’ for a chance to be useful.
“Ah was thinkin’ to masel’, ‘she’s awfu’ little shot up’ (for ye ken Ah had expectit her to be a’ to bits frae the way Ah’d heard the projes burstin’ ahint the bridge), whan a syren gae a michty shriek a’ most at ma lug, and Ah turned to see anither T.B.D., spootin’ fire frae her funnels and throwin’ a double bow wave higher’n her fo’c’sl’, headin’ richt inta us. Ah cud see that her helm was hard-a-port by the way her wake was boilin’, but it was nae guid. She turned enough to keep frae rammin’ us midships, but she cudna miss oor stern.
“Ah had just been tellt by ane o’ the after gun’s crew to get oot o’ the wa’ (they not bein’ short o’ hauns), whan this new craft hove inta sicht. At first it lookit like she wad cut thro’ for’ard o’ me, leavin’ me ahint to drown in the wreck o’ the stern. Then Ah thocht she was comin’ richt at me, and Ah started crawlin’ back to whaur Ah had come frae. But she keepit turnin’ and turnin’, so that she hit at last richt abaft the after gun. Ah fell a’ in a heap at the shock, and, tho’ Ah was a guid ten feet frae whaur her stem cut in, the bulge o’ her crunched into the quarterdeck till she passed sae close that suthin’ stickin’ oot frae her
side—it micht hae been the lip o’ a mouldie-tube, Ah’m thinkin’—gae ma puir back a sair dig, and there Ah was amang the mess left o’ the gun and its crew. Ah was near to bein’ dragged owerboard after that T.B.D., and when she was gone Ah fund masel’—for the second time in ane night—hangin’ ower the raggit edge o’ a black hole listenin’ to the swish o’ ragin’ waters.