Page:Ballinger Price--Fortune of the Indies.djvu/135

 wiping his forehead with the back of a wet, oily hand.

Suddenly he came awake with a snap, mentally as well as physically. He went to his chief in a few bounds.

"Report a hot eccentric-strap, sir," he said. "Will you look at it?"

The engineer on watch went with him swiftly and with no words till he gave his brief orders. The strap was dosed with oil and sulphur, the water-service was put on, and the engine-room force kept watch over it as one might over a sick child. The engines were slowed, and the Delphian proceeded carefully through the darkness.

When Mark came on deck the great stars had been smothered by cloud. The ship climbed long rollers whose crests hissed with phosphorescent foam. The Pacific seemed to be belying its name, he thought. He leaned beside the boiler-hatch for a time, thinking drowsily of the hot eccentric-strap, rather priding himself on his quickness in recognizing trouble. Then he wondered why he stood there—there were not even those sullen stars to see. He stumbled to bed and slept instantly.