With wide-open eyes I stared blankly at the rock above me, at one time less than six inches from my face. The confinement of the narrow passage produced a feeling of suffocation, and with it the impression that the walls of the tunnel were contracting; but at length willing hands seized my outstretched arm, then my shoulders, and I was free.
"Back, all of you!" shouted the bos'n, and in the rush for safety I was boldly carried off by one of the sailors. There was another rumbling sound, and the place through which I had just emerged was choked by a still greater fall of rock. I—nay, the whole party—had escaped by the very skin of our teeth.
No time was lost in gaining the open air. It was night, but by the glimmer of the lanterns I saw that my father's eyes were filled with tears as he kissed me—even in front of all the men.
As we were rowed back to the "Fortuna," and I sat in the stern-sheets with my father and uncle, I whispered, "What made you speak so crossly to me, pater?"
"Necessity, my boy—stern necessity. Had I not compelled you to do what I told you, your hesitation would doubtless have proved fatal, though, believe me, Reggie, you will never be able to realize your father's agony of mind when he spoke thus."
Chapter XX
A GREAT CATASTROPHE
THE next few days were spent in making final preparations for the "Fortuna's" passage to the open sea. By the removal of her ballast, and partial emptying of the water-tanks, her draught was reduced to 8 feet 6 inches.
Fenders and some stout trunks of palm-trees were lashed alongside and underneath her bilges to prevent damage in the event of the yacht touching bottom, and hawsers were prepared to warp her through the narrow opening in the reef.