Through their powerful telescopes and binoculars, the observers on her bridge watched the efforts of the jettisoned man to make the buoy. He was swimming strongly, so no attempt had been made to secure his arms and legs. And why, having thrown the man overboard, did his assailants go to the length of heaving a life-buoy after him?
Obviously the Chinese didn’t want him to drown. Their object was to make the destroyer stop and pick him up and thus lose valuable time.
Equally obvious was it that Buster would have to pick the man up, whether he were a European or an Asiatic.
He had gained the buoy and was now facing the oncoming destroyer. In spite of his tanned complexion he was certainly a white man.
Maynebrace had already made up his mind what to do. Only as a last resource would he stop and lower a boat. That would waste much valuable time. Nevertheless, the whaler was manned and swung out ready to be lowered and slipped.
“Stand by there with bowlines!” he ordered, and then rang down for quarter speed ahead.
His aim was to pick the swimmer up by means of one of those looped ropes. It was a manœuvre that required skill and an iron nerve. Even at quarter speed the destroyer would be going too fast for the swimmer to retain a hold, and if one of the bowlines chanced to fall over his head the sudden jerk would break his neck. And if they missed the man he would almost certainly be caught by the suction of the starboard propeller and cut to pieces. Yet way must not be entirely taken off the ship. If it were, she would become unmanageable and drift to lee’ard of her objective.
For the present Maynebrace didn’t worry about the Su-me. His whole attention was centred upon the man in the ditch.
One thing in his favour was the fact that the sea was calm. On the other hand a calm sea is favourable to sharks. The surface might be unruffled for hours by the sinister dorsal fin of one of these ravenous brutes; but within a few minutes after they have been provided with a likely victim, the water all around would be ruffled by feathers of spray as the black triangular objects converged upon their prey.
Maynebrace realized this danger, and ordered half a dozen bluejackets possessing first-class marksmen’s badges to stand by, ready to fire should any shark appear.