Adventure Magazine Cover, November 10, 1924 — page 34: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

32 by Eadie’s nose. A hand reached out to him and Eadie seized it. “Up you come,” said the voice, and clutching and clawing, Eadie was dragged out of the water on to the raft. “Steady all,’ said some one as the raft teetered dangerously. “Let’s paddle away from her,” sug- gested another voice. ‘We don’t want to be pulled under by the suck.” They ail heartily agreed and began to paddle with their hands and kick their feet. Progress was very slow, indeed it was im- perceptible to the naked eye. There were vehement protests from some of the raft’s passengers against the strenuous efforts of certain of the others. “Lay off all that kickin’ an’ paddlin’,”’ cried the first. ‘You want to swamp us?” “Well, if we don’t get away when she goes down, she’ll take us with her.” “Aw, she ain’t goin’ down,” cried some skeptic. ‘Look at her!” Following this suggestion all looked at the great height of the ship above them. . It was astonishing how high she was, how long and how huge. The upper parts of her, the empty davits and the towering stacks and the slender masts, were so far above them that their outlines were almost lost in the gloom. The list to starboard was not so apparent here. Eadie remembered that when he had slid down the side, almost at the water’s _edge had been a band of red paint, probably the uppermost part of the ship’s bottom painting. He tried to see if this band was still visible. It was not. There was a line of half submerged portholes at the water’s edge now, and even as Eadie watched, they drew themselves softly under water, as a turtle draws in its head. “Here comes a boat down,” cried some one, “‘maybe she'll give us a tow.” All looked up. The ship’s boats were re- served for officers, who, of course, would be the last to leave the ship. Having seen the men under their command safely over the side, they were at liberty to think of them- selves, so they proceeded to their boat sta- tions. The boats had been swung out from the boat deck and lowered to the promenade deck for their loads. They were painted a dull gray, the same color as their mother ship, and it was difficult to see them against the black of the vessel’s side. Their loca- 39 Adventure tion could be told by the sound of language, and the shrieking of the blocks as the falls ran through them. There was considerable shouting and piercing blasts of a whistle. “Can you hear what they’re yelling about?” Eadie asked the man next to him. “Veh,” said the man. ‘They’re tellin’ each other to cut out the hollerin’.” A boat splashed by at that moment, the men in her getting out oars. The raft rocked tremendously. Another boat hit the water at the ship’s side, amid a flurry of salt water curses. “How the cross-compound —— do you cast off these falls?”’ cried one of the men in the boat. “You don’t cast ’em off, swabhead, jever know a signal floozy had any brains? Lift up that iron ball! It’s a automatic releasin’ gear!’’ ‘‘Ain’t no iron ball here!” There was a sound of splashing water, shouts. , “Vast pourin’ water!” “Turn off that hose!” “Hey, you’re swamping us, shut off that water!” 3 Every one in the boat proceeded to speak his opinion of his fellow passengers. The boat had drifted under a condenser jet, one of those streams that one often sees spurt- ing from a ship’s side, and this jet was fill- ing the unlucky boat. The automatic re- leasing gear did not,seem to release. “Take an axe to them falls, you poor barnacle!’’ “Ain’t got no axe.” “There’s an axe lashed to the thwart right in back of you! Ain’t you got a knife?” “Hey, bear down on a bailer, we'll be swimmin’ in another minute.” “Ts the plug in? I bet it ain’t.” A stern voice roared— “Shut off that water! This is Major Thompson speaking. I order you to shut off that water.” . Hearty laughter from the dark. “You tell ’em, major,” urged all. “You speak the language. Hey, shut off the wa- ter, you’re gettin’ the major wet.” There was light-hearted laughter from all the sur- face of the water. ‘There ain’t a cackroach left in that fire room,” cried the sailors. “There,” said a voice from the boat, “I cut them falls, an’ now let’s get outta here.” “Shove off forward!’’ cried a deep voice. “Shove off aft! Lean on them oars, now!” CoOMmicbhook ) (© 5}