Page:Cruise of the Dry Dock.djvu/242

 couldn't right 'er in th' water!” “Cut 'er and jump! Quick! 'Eaven knows w'ot's got us!”

“Steady! Steady, men!” bawled Madden, laying Caradoc down on the deck and hurrying across to his panicky crew. “What's moving us?”

“We don't know, sir! Th' sea sorpint! Grabbed our cable and made off!”

“Can you see it?”

“Just make it out, sir, ahead!”

“Cut th' cable!” cried another voice; “that'll get us loose!”

“Yes, get an axe—Quick!”

A dim figure came running aft past Madden for the axe. The American shouted at him: “Come back! Don't touch that towing line! Let things alone!”

“Yes, but this'll drag us to the bottom!” chattered one of the men forward.

“We'll get in the dinghy when the ship goes down!”

“We might row to the dock from here!”

The men stood in a string along the rail, below them in the hissing water the dinghy tossing topsy turvy.