And then he came splashing over to where Mrs. Burke and I stood with an arm writhed about the stanchion. But oh, the soul-lifting sense of relief that came into one with the feel of that level deck and the rise and fall, hard and furious as the tossing was!
'What has happened?' cried Mr. Owen.
'Hark!' was Mrs. Burke's answer, in so shrill a note, that it pierced the ear like a whistle. We heard the voices of men on deck. A few moments later the figure of Captain Burke appeared in the companion-way. He looked down and cried out:
'Are you all right below there?'
'Edward, come to us. What has happened?' shrieked Mrs. Burke.
'How much water have you taken in down here?' he cried, and descended to the bottom of the steps, where he stood looking round him like a man bereft of his mind.
'What is it, Edward?' screamed his wife. 'Tell us. We are half dead with fright and nearly drowned.'
'The ship's a sheer hulk—totally dismasted,' he cried, in a raving way, still looking round and around and around.
'Oh, oh,' wailed the poor woman, and the doctor, grey as ashes, floundered through the rushing flood upon the cabin floor towards the captain.