“Listen,” she went on quickly. “You need to get the words just as they are.
“‘The S. S. Arbuthnot of Liverpool, bound for Sydney, N.S.W., picked up the following wireless on the morning of 27th inst.: “Sailing-ship Imperial, Bristol. Steering gear carried away. Cargo shifted. Plates badly sprung. Sinking. Send help. Possibly last twenty-four hours.”’”
Again the girl looked up.
“Then there’s figgers I don’t understand,” she said. “Maybe they’re her position. But you see she’s going to last twenty-four hours. Anything, I guess, could happen in that time. There’s the boats. Maybe if there’s storm, it’ll let up. We’ve seen it storm nigh a hurricane on the sea back of here and flatten out in twelve hours——”
The mother shook her head despairingly. “I’ve thought all that,” she said, in a low voice. Then she seemed to pull herself together for a supreme effort. “It’s kind of you, Claire, to—to—say all this. I know, my dear. You’re feeling just as badly, and you’re trying to help us both. But I feel it right here,” she went on, clasping her bosom with both hands. “He’s gone—our Jim. It just wasn’t meant for him to get back with——”
“That’s fool talk, mother, and I won’t listen,” Claire broke in roughly. “You’ve thought yourself into that. But there’s the rest.
“‘The Arbuthnot, steamed at once to the rescue. She arrived on the scene at the position indicated, and, though the weather had improved, no trace of the Imperial was discovered.’
“You see, mum? The weather had improved.
“‘Similarly, the Argonaut, bound from Shanghai to New Zealand, picked up the Imperial’s message and hurried to the rescue. She apparently arrived at the given position some hours later. She reports no better success. There was no trace of the distressed vessel, and it is presumed she must have foundered. The best hope lies in the fact that, with the storm abating and twenty-four hours’ grace, the crew of the foundering vessel was able to get away in the boats, although as yet none of these are reported having been picked up.
“‘The Imperial of Bristol is a full-rigged ship of three thousand tons engaged in a West Australian coasting trade. She carried a crew of eighteen or twenty.’