Page:A Sailor Boy with Dewey.djvu/30

18 "As it happens he owns a one-fourth interest in the Dart, and his contract says he shall be skipper, so Dawson told me," answered Dan. "I'll wager Dawson will have a story to tell when he comes below. My, what a sea must be running!" And my companion swung forward and back with the motion of the schooner. "And see how dark it is getting!"

It was so gloomy we could scarcely see each other. It had now begun to lighten and thunder, while the rain came down in perfect sheets. We huddled together, as if feeling instinctively that something out of the ordinary was about to occur.

And it did occur a moment later. A clap of thunder had just rolled away when there came a cry from the deck, so appalling that it could be distinctly heard above the fury of the elements.

"Ship, ahoy! Don't run us down!"

The cry was followed by a tearing, grinding, sickening crash that I shall never forget. The crash threw me headlong and I lay at Dan's feet for several seconds, completely dazed.