Dick Short reported to the acting commodore what he had done, and Oscar said he should not interfere. At this time, Dory reported the condition of the sloop, and advised that two of the six ladies be taken into each barge. With great difficulty, on account of the uneasy motion of the boats, the passengers were transferred to the stern-sheets of the barges. They were all wet through, but the commodore would not allow the boats to leave the scene of the disaster until the safety of the Silver Moon was assured.
CHAPTER XIV. THE WORK OF AN INCOMPETENT SKIPPER.
The removal of the six ladies made the Silver Moon a little more buoyant; but she was in hardly less peril than before, for she rolled even worse than when her passengers were on board. Dory formed a very unfavorable opinion of the seamanship of Bissell almost as soon as he had put his foot over the gunwale of the sloop. Nothing at all was the matter with the Silver Moon. Her rudder was not disabled, and the halyards on the mainsail were in working condition. The craft had lost nothing, but the skipper had lost his head.
But the Beech Hiller did not utter a word of rebuke, or even a critical comment on the management of the sloop. He saw how it was, and understood the situation perfectly, but he did not feel called upon to censure the action which had been taken, or the steps which had been neglected. The craft was in the trough of the sea, and half full of water. He looked about him, and discovered a pair of oars stowed away under the seats in the large room.
"As you are tired out, Mr. Bissell, Paul will bale for a while till you get rested," said Dory, as soon as the passengers had been transferred to the barges, and without any of the delay indicated by the printed page.
"I can do that first-rate," replied Paul, who had wondered what he could do in a sailboat, in the management of which he was comparatively ignorant.
Paul took the bucket; and it is safe to say that he threw out more water than the skipper could have done in his exhausted condition. But the baling appeared to have little or no effect on the large quantity of water in the standing room.
"I am about tuckered out, but what do you think I had better do?" asked the skipper, as he gave up the bucket to the fresh hand.