Page:Cruise of the Dry Dock.djvu/234

 boat. He must race back to the dock. The dock apparently was safe. What the startling apparition was, he had no time to speculate. When he touched the deck he sprinted for the cabin.

As he passed Gaskin the light vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared, and left the tug in inky darkness.

Madden heard the cook give a deferential cough and then say, “Yes, sor, Hi saw it, Mr. Madden, saw it quite plainly, sor.”

A moment before Leonard reached the cabin door, someone flung the shutter open violently and shouted his name in the utmost alarm.

“Mister Madden! Mister Madden! Come quick, sir!”

The American lunged through the dark aperture straight into the fellow's arms. In the darkness he could not make out who it was.

“Don't be afraid! Did you see it? Where are the rest of the men?”

“In the galley, sir, with him!” stammered the sailor,

“Are they in a funk?” gasped Madden, feeling that he himself was in one.

“Oh, they are that, sir.”