Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/153

 masts, and on the Iroquois the cordage fairly shrieked in wild, wailing notes that made Henry almost shudder.

He was glad enough that the Iroquois had been unable to get away. Never had the captain’s cabin seemed half so comfortable and attractive. He told himself that he would be glad enough to spend the time there, reading some of the interesting books from the captain’s bookshelf, while waiting for the storm to subside.

Yet the movement of stores went forward without interruption. Sailors, cased from head to foot in sou’westers, oilskins, and rubber boots, worked without ceasing in the downpour to finish the transshipment. Henry could hear them clumping about the deck in their clumsy footgear. On the pier trucks rattled and banged. Boxes were wheeled aboard and dumped on the deck. Men swore and slipped in the wet. Machinery rattled.

While Henry and his host were eating their luncheon, the noises suddenly ceased. There were a few shouted orders, indistinguishable in the roar of the storm, then some banging noises as hatches were closed and battened down, and other openings made fast. Soon all was quiet. When the luncheon was ended, Henry went up the companionway and peeped out. Things had been made tight. Awnings had been removed. Every