“Perhaps you would like to land here,” added the lieutenant, in a jeering tone, as though he felt that he had checkmated his crew in any evil purpose they entertained. “Whether you do or not, I think I shall stretch my legs on these rocks.”
De Forrest leaped from thwart to thwart, and then over the bow upon the island, as though he felt nothing but contempt for the power of the boat’s crew to do mischief. He walked up the rough rocks to the summit of the islet, where he paused, and for the first time glanced at his companions, whom he suspected of harboring some design against the peace and dignity of the ship. As he did so, he discovered a steamer, which had just passed through the narrow opening between Odderö and the main land, and whose course lay close to the point of the island where the cutter was moored. He saw that the swash of the steamer was likely to throw the boat on the rocks, and grind her planking upon the sharp points of the island.
“In the boat!” he shouted, lustily. “Shove off!”
Sanford saw the danger which the lieutenant wished to avert, and promptly obeyed the orders.
“Shove off, Stockwell!” he promptly shouted. “Up oars! Stern, all! Give way!”
Stockwell gave a tremendously hard push when he shoved off, and the cutter shot far out upon the still waters; in fact, so far that she was forced directly into the way of the approaching steamer.
The Accident to the Second Cutter. Page [57].
“Oars!” yelled the coxswain furiously, when he saw that he had overdone the matter. “Hold water! Go ahead! Give way!”
The crew, even in this moment of deadly peril,—for it looked as though, in another instant, they would all be under the wheels of the steamer,—obeyed every command with their wonted precision. But it was a second too late to take the back track. If the boat had continued to back as at first, she would probably have escaped, for the steamer put her helm a-starboard a little, in order to favor her manœuvre. When a collision seemed inevitable, the steamer’s bell was rung to stop her, and then to back her.