This page has been validated.

CHAPTER X


A RUN ASHORE, AND WHAT FOLLOWED


"Have we struck?" came from Si, as he leaped up from his bunk, his face full of sudden fear.

"We've hit something," returned Walter, who had not understood the cries from the deck owing to the wind.

Another bumping and a grinding followed, and they felt the transport list heavily to port. Si clasped Walter by the shoulder, and in the darkness each braced the other. Were they going to the bottom of the ocean? The question arose in the mind of each, but neither put it into words.

Yells and screams arose, for in a moment of extreme peril men are very much like wild animals, and a mad rush was made for the deck. But hardly had the first man come up than he was ordered under shelter again.

"Keep in, or you'll be hurled overboard," was the advice given. "We have struck a regular cyclone." The words were caught up in the fury

94