"Will she—" came the voice of the captain, questioning, querulous, borne back the few intervening feet through the flying atmosphere. He did not know and it angered him to have such a question asked.
How could he tell?
He was panting with exertion and smothered with drift and spray. Suddenly he hove the wheel to starboard. The little vessel leaped forward, straightened out before the gale, then rounded with her head to the eastward. It was done anyhow. If they were clear, all right. If they had missed, they would strike within five minutes.
"Get—anchors—all cable," came the voice of the captain.
Macreary could see nothing forward, but he knew the men were doing what they could to obey. Minutes passed, the vessel rose and fell, but she had not struck yet. He held the wheel, and closed his eyes. The sea seemed smoother. Ahead it was evidently smoother still. The great lift of the outside sea was growing less and less. Five minutes more and the Seabird was in another foam-covered plain of water which had no rolling sea.
"Go," came a cry. It was echoed by a faint shriek somewhere. A shaking of the vessel followed as the chain ran out. Suddenly she brought up and swung right into the eye of the storm, the rush of wind striking Macreary in the face and forcing his sou'wester back upon his head. There was a quick but light rise and fall as the Seabird headed the sea, and Macreary lashed the wheel fast in the beckets.
A form brushed against him and the captain yelled in his face: "She's holdin'—both anchors with forty fathoms—can't get loose unless it blows the water off the earth," and then he pushed the hatch-slide and went below.
In a few minutes all hands were in the little cabin and a light was struck. It showed four men with streaming oilskins and soaking faces, whose expressions still bore marks of extreme anxiety. Three of them looked at each other and then cast glances at Macreary.
"That was a pretty good job, pilot," said Captain James. "We had a close call there once—suppose you got mixed with the steering gear, hey?"