“She may hold out—it is a chance; but the sea must go down very slowly. Be prepared for the worst—it may mean every soul,” with a quick look to leeward, as if calculating what a miserable showing the stoutest man might have in that awful whirl.
“What of the men?” I asked.
“Hardly know—I saw two carried away at the time we struck.”
He did not tell me then that in endeavoring to save one of them he came within an ace of also losing his hold; but such an act was characteristic of the man, and he could not do less under any conditions.
“Cumming?” I shouted, filled with apprehension lest he might have been one of them.
“Is forward in the wheelhouse—I’m afraid he’s hurt by being thrown down when we struck; but he’s a game one.”
“We must get him here; at any moment that wheelhouse may be carried away. If there are others, tell them to come. It is a common danger we all face, and let this be no time for class distinction. A man is only a man when death hovers near.”
“I’ll go,” he said, readily enough.
Without another word he was about to leave me, when I caught his arm.
“What can we do with the women?”