Evening star., 1935-10-20
Magazine Section

after that, and presently Terry felt the
side of the Amariiiis under his feet.
Turning slowly about, he could see
how she'd sunk. In clearing the reef
she had torn her bottom out. The bow
was high and headed out to sea The
Greek had lowered him even with the
bridge. Moving slowly up the side of
the ship, Terry looked down over the
deck. Still held by the falls, life boat
swung bottom up, caught before it
could be launched. 1t was strange,
. looking down on the bridge, nearly
vertically like that. Evidently the sun
had come out, the visibility was so
good. He could read the signal on the
engine telegraph: Full speed ahead"
Everything buoyant, chairs, fibre mat
ting. and lot of cushions. had floated
up against the windows through which
he looked
Along The side of the yacht Terry
moved slowly. leaning against strong
tide. The plates underfoot weren't
even Shiny yet. 1t would be clean job.
He was looking for Drayton's cabin.
When he had found and identified
that, he would look for a safe. The
money. if any, he felt sure would be
there. Stepping across closed port.
he saw something white against the
glass He went back and looked 1t was
mans clenched hand He didn't stop.
Below, and behind the bridge would
be the dining room, and lounge. No
use wasting time on that. Next. pos
sibly, the owners cabin.
Terry asked for more line When he
got it, he dropped over the rail on to
the side of the deck house. He landed
on door. Stepping back, he stopped,
grasped the handle. and raised up the
door Something glimmered in the dim
green light. 1t turned out to be the
metal faucets over sink. Just the
pantry - bum guess. He moved on,
and suddenly he came aware OF Finch's
voice.
What do you see?"
The fool was excited; Terry could
tell by the way he talked.
"A lot Of water" he shouted back.
In the next half hour Terry dis
covered that the deck house of the
AmariiHs was unlike that of other
yachts. The dining room was aft.
Drayton's cabin in that case might be
foruarI apd toh;pd cre, .,f tho J~,ore
he'd passed up.
Because the tide was with him, it
was easier going back. The clenched
fist seemed to threaten him as he
passed over the port hole next to the
doors he had missed. Terry raised the
next door, and something white fioated
up. He watched it pass - pillow,
and that meant bedroom at last.
Then he had mercy on Finch. Into the
mouthpiece he said. 1T looks good;
give me line"
When he saw the connections loop
ing down through the green haze,
Terry dropped through the doorway
A bed screwed to the floor saved him
from sinking to the lower wall. 1t was
what he wanted. 1t placed him in the
center of the room where he could
look about. He let Finch know that
the connections were down far enough.
Everything loose and buoyant rested
against the top wall. The place was
mess. With his crowbar, he cleared the
windows and the light flooded in from
above. Then he looked about.
Being on deck like this, it was un-
doubtedly the owners cabin. Pres
entity. above picture hanging askew
on the wall, Terry saw what he was
looking for - the dial of safe. He
knew at once that getting the safe out
was going to be tough. 1t meant hack
ing the steel box out of the wall But
with the first thrust of the crowbar he
saw that his guess was wrong. The
wall was nothing but composition
boarding, The point of the crowhar