But Mr. Alfred Barney held to the spokes of her wheel; he made no offer to leave the Seamew, although Mate Hollister, like the men, was already in the sea.
As I hacked at the steel cordage and broken spars I heard Captain Bowditch shouting directions to the men below, and to the men in the water. Ropes and life-buoys were flung to the seamen from the sinking ship. In this comparatively quiet sea there was little likelihood of any of them being drowned.
Mr. Hollister waited to see his hands drawn over the rail of the Gullwing before he came inboard himself. But while this was going on Captain Bowditch discovered the missing second mate still on the wreck.
“Come away from that!” he shouted to Alfred Barney. “Come on! Jump in! We’ll haul you out.”
The young man made no reply, nor did he move from the wheel.
“Come away, you fool!” roared Captain Bowditch.
But Alfred Barney, like Jim Barney, seemed frozen to the spokes of the wheel. The thought in my confused mind was: Had the two brothers deliberately wrecked the sister ships?
The Gullwing had recovered from the shock of the collision. She was not going to sink—at least, not right away. All her crew were inboard now, and Mr. Hollister followed. Nobody spoke of poor Cap’n Si. We all knew that he was missing. But there was a great to-do about Alfred Barney.
“What does that etarnal fool want to stay over there for?” yelled Captain Joe to Mr. Hollister. “Is he a dummy?”
“He iss fey,” whispered old Stronson in my ear.