Even then catastrophe threatened, for the ship’s anchor chain, touched by the punt, sent out a rattling sound.
“What was that?” came a bass voice from the sea.
An instant later the sea was all aglow with a second flare. But luck was with them. They had rounded the ship’s hull and were out of sight.
“If they row around her, we are caught,” whispered Betty.
Ten seconds passed, twenty, thirty, forty, a minute. Then came the sounds of a boat bumping the ship and of men ascending the rope ladder.
“Not coming!” Ruth breathed a sigh of relief.
“We’ll just move back under the stern by the rudder,” she whispered a moment later. “Even if they look over the side they won’t be able to see us there.”
“Who-who are they?” Betty’s question carried a thrill.
“I don’t know.”
“What do they look like?”