"I fancy she's aground for'ard, sir," said the sub. "I'll be as sharp as I can."
Descending the now almost perpendicular ladder Terence gained the shelving mess-deck. Already the water was surging over the forepart; kit-bags, tables and stools were floating in a confused mass, while those that were not yet reached by the rapidly rising flood had been thrown about in all directions by the explosion.
It was some time before the sub. grew accustomed to the semi-gloom. His senses were still affected by the concussion; he could see the water pouring in, but the noise it made was barely audible. The situation reminded him of a cinematograph show unaccompanied by a band.
"All clear as far as I can see," he thought. "It's about time I looked after number one. Heavens! What is that?"
Lying almost buried by a pile of gear in one corner of the stokers' mess was the body of a man. He was insensible, and, in the hurried rush, had been overlooked by his companions. Already the level of the water was up to the man's chin as he lay with his head and shoulders propped up against a broken ditty-box.
Knee-deep in water Terence hurried to the rescue. The man, a great brawny specimen of humanity, was stripped to the waist. Surprised in the act of washing, after coming off duty, he had been rendered senseless by the explosion. His right leg was bent under him. The limb, Terence knew at a glance, was broken. He was also bleeding profusely from an ugly scalp wound in the back of his head.
In spite of the unconscious stoker's weight—he turned the scale at sixteen stone—Aubyn dragged him along the deck to the foot of the ladder. Here he was temporarily baffled, for the metal "treads" were now sloping downwards at such an angle that it would be difficult for him to get a foothold unimpeded, much more when attempting to lift a heavy man.
It never occurred to the sub. to call upon Captain Holloway for assistance. The captain, the only person now on deck, was mechanically puffing at an unlighted cigarette, while his attention was fixed upon the crowd of swimmers, good, bad, and indifferent, as they struck out for the shore. Beyond removing his boots the captain had made no preparations for safety, resolving to remain on his quarter-deck until his ill-fated command disappeared beneath the waves.
Unseen by his superior officer and equally unconscious of his presence, Terence gained the upper deck, secured a rope, and again descended to the aid of the luckless stoker. Bending the rope round the man's chest and back the sub. clambered up the ladder and began to heave away. Under ordinary circumstances Aubyn would never have attempted such a feat, but sheer nerve gave him the strength of a giant. Unaided he succeeded in raising the senseless man and toppling him over the coaming on to the deck.
Just then Captain Holloway, having seen that the last of the swimmers had reached the mud-fringed shore, remembered that the sub. had gone below, and finding that he had not returned, hurried to the companion.