Evening star., 1940-07-19
CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VII.
Before Algae could rise he felt a
flood of water rush over him and
he thought of Phyllis lying on the
floor at the far end of the room,
unconscious from the blow when her
head hit the door frame. He strug-
gled to rise and then he felt hand
grip his shoulder and pull him up.
It was one of the crew, who, with
four others, had come in the door
on the other side of the room. The
sailor had a length of rope and
with amazing speed, after getting
Algae out of his way, lashed one end
around an upright in broken
window frame, ran the line around
the piano and fastened the other
end to another upright. Thus Sc
cured, he left it and followed Algae
to where the other crewmen were
assisting the people at the end OF
the room.
Phyllis had already been taken
into the game room and by the time
Algae reached her she was propped
up in a chair and looking around
duly at her surroundings.
MY head" she said weakly when
she saw Algae.
You took an awful crack from
that door frame, honey" he said.
Lets see the bump" He parted
her thick black hair just above the
right ear and found spot that was
very red but the skin wasn't broken.
He smiled and patted her shoulder.
you've got a tough she'll" he said.
you'll be all right in a few
minutes"
But Algae's words indicated a
lightness that he did not feel From
the expressions on the faces of the
crew, who were with lightning speed
tying down all the movable pieces
of furniture in the game room, it
was evident that their circumstances
were serious. One of the men asked
why the hell the captain didn't ride
into the waves instead of across
them, but he got no direct answer.
One sailor said not to worry, that
this wasn't nothin', but the way he
said it wasn't very convincing.
Sailors Secure Furniture.
Algae had started to speak when
the passenger asked the question
but then he had waited to see what
the sailor would say. Now he took
their cue and said nothing, although
he knew there was only one ex-
planation for what was happening;
the ships rudder wasn't working
He could see that the sailors answer
had relieved the women to some
extent, and two or three of the six
men. He hoped that the questione1
wouldn't figure out the answer him
self and make it known to the
others.
After the furniture was secured
one of the sailors opened a small
cabinet in one corner of the room
and took out first-aid material with
which he dressed the cut one of the
women suffered when the first win.
dow broke. He also put iodine or
the forehead of the man who hao
banged against the game room door
frame, but he said Phyllis didn't
need anything except maybe a drink
Then he laughed and said, "But who
doesn't need that?" When the sailors
left they said that things were
getting Strengthened out below decks
but that they'd better stay where
they were for a while; that one Of
them would come back when it was
all right to 60 below.
Whether the others saw anything
strange in this remark Algae didn't
know, although he thought Phyllis
shot a questioning glance ut the
speaker. He himself was certain
that something serious had hap.
pened, or was happening, below
decks that they know nothing about
and that concerned more than the
violence Of the storm. He recalled
that when ships were tossed about
like the Georgia cargoes oftentimes
shifted, causing dangerous lists tc
one side or the other. But as neal
as he could tell the roll to one side
was little if any greater than that
to the other, the violence of the
blows from starboard being evi-
dently due to the force of the storm
being from that direction. It must
be something other than that.
Sees Lifebelts.
He had been staring toward the
corner of the room as he thought
of these things and abruptly the
thing he was staring at registered In
his mind. It was a stack Of lifebelt,
that the sailor must have taken Out
when he got the first-aid material
from the wall cabinet. That was the
same sailor, Algae recalled, who had
said there was nothin' to worry
about. 80
., o..