I grabbed Slade by the arm, and pointed at the lower deck.
"The Chinks—below—can't get out!" I roared against the hurricane.
Slade grinned a sickly grin and nodded. Then he ducked his head against the wind and bellowed back:
"Can't help it—can't go there—sure death!"
I fancied I could hear the outcries of the imprisoned men, but the deep, bass undertone of the hurricane roared away overhead and swept away the impression.
It was sickening to think of it. Fully twenty men were in that alleyway, and the four eight-inch ports were letting in four streams of sea water, for the Chinamen would not know enough to jam them full of clothes or anything they could get hold of, being little better than animals in point of intelligence.
If the schooner would only pay off she would right herself and let the openings come above the sea level; but she hung there dead, beaten down by a blast so terrific that it seemed like a solid wall of something heavy tearing upon her and crushing her life out. It took the breath away, and I found myself gasping, trying to get air to breathe, sucking in the flying drift and spray, and choking, holding one hand over my nose and mouth to keep from actually drowning in the smother.
It seemed as if we had already been hove down a full hour, and I was tiring. The schooner held doggedly broadside in the trough of the sea, which was now appalling in height, and was breaking solidly over her high rail and upturned side. We could not last much longer in the dangerous position, and I began to believe we were lost. Our hatches were closed, and no water could get below unless something gave way, but it was certain something would go before long under that strain.
I looked hopelessly at the man at the wheel, who had passed a lashing upon his waist, and was straddling the shaft, clinging to the spokes with desperation. I wondered if he still held the wheel hard up, but knew that in her present knocked-down state it would make little difference, for she would not steer without some headsail to swing her out and off that mighty sea.
I crawled along the rail, fighting my way hand over hand, passing the skipper and gaining the edge of the poop. I yelled to Douglas, who was the man straddling the wheel shaft, but he only shook his head and ducked from the squalls.