"Vast heaving!" came the order.

Then, with the a.s.sistance of the winches, the ends of the hawsers were carried through the hawse-holes and parcelled with chafing-mats to lessen the friction. The _Hawk_ was now astern of the _Satellite_, which was to be towed off the reef stern foremost, and the work would commence as soon as the hawsers had been made secure.

At last the bos'n reported all ready and the girl rang down "Stand by"

to the engine-room. There was a tense pause, and then she again moved the lever. A faint "ting-ting" came from below, the telegraph pointer swung round to "Slow," and the _Hawk's_ engines began to move with a steady, ponderous beat. All eyes were fixed upon the hawsers, which, as the steamer began to move, slowly raised their dripping lengths from the water. Then the moment arrived when the great ropes tautened till they vibrated under the tension like fiddle-strings when a bow is pa.s.sed across them. The _Hawk_, which had been slowly forging ahead, seemed to pull up with a sudden jerk, and then gradually slide back, stern foremost, in her own wake, while the hawsers sagged and dipped into the sea. The girl on the bridge waited with her hand on the telegraph, every nerve braced as if for stupendous effort, while she watched the hawsers disappear. Then, as the _Hawk's_ stern-way was arrested, she rang down "Half speed" and the engines pulsated with quickened beats.

Again the hawsers grew taut as the steamer forged ahead, only to recoil once more like a straining hound suddenly jerked back by its leash. But this time the recoil was only momentary and then she gathered a little way, while, at the same moment, the _Satellite_ was seen to move. Once more Dora Fletcher pressed the lever of the telegraph, the decks vibrated to the thunderous beat of the engines, and, to the accompaniment of a cheer from the anxious watchers, the gunboat slid gently into deep water.

"Gawd!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the bos'n, wiping the sweat from his brow, and the monosyllable was more eloquent than an oration.

With a little moan of utter fatigue which was not that of the body only, Dora Fletcher slipped into the chart-room and flung herself on the settee. The terrible nervous strain of these hours when she alone had been responsible for the safety of the _Hawk_ and all those souls aboard, added to the strain of the last hour, had been too much for her.

She collapsed suddenly in a dead faint, and it was thus that McPhulach discovered her when he put his head into the chart-room some fifteen minutes later.

CHAPTER XXII

MR. SMITH SEEKS A PARTNER

McPhulach, thinking the girl was asleep, shook her gently by the shoulder; but, as this met with no response, he took a closer look at her.

"Losh presairve us!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, "the la.s.sie's fainted."

He took from his pocket a small, flat flask, and, after drawing the cork, placed the bottle to his nose and sniffed the aroma appreciatively. Then, with a sigh, he forced some of its contents between the girl's teeth, pillowing her head on his arm as he did so. In a moment or two she opened her eyes and stared at him with a dull, uncomprehending gaze, which, however, quickly gave place to a look of bewilderment.

"Why, what's happened?" she murmured and pa.s.sed a hand across her forehead as if trying to remember.

"Ye've jes' swallowed a drap o' unco' guid whusky," answered the engineer, holding up the flask to see how much he had "wasted."

"Why I--I must have fainted!"

"Aye, ye were lying on the cooch like a wax-work figger when I came in."

The girl sat up with cheeks that had suddenly become very red. Obviously she was ashamed of being found out in an essentially feminine weakness.

"I was very tired," she said apologetically, "and--and----"

"Ye jes' swooned," put in McPhulach as she hesitated. "Weel, I'm no sairprised. I'm subjec' tae it mysel', which is why I always carry a wee drappie aboot me pairson. It's likewise a muckle fine thing for stomach troubles, ye ken."

The girl nodded absently and gazed through the chart-room window at the _Satellite_, now steaming about a cable's length astern. Under the bos'n's directions, the towing hawsers had been cast off and hauled back aboard the gunboat. It had not occurred to her till this moment that Mr.

d.y.k.es must have been considerably exercised in his mind at seeing her on the bridge, and in command instead of Calamity. She wondered what he thought about it.

"Weel, I'll be ganging below," remarked McPhulach. "It was a michty guid thing I came up here for a breath o' fresh air an' tae see hoo ye were getting alang."

"It was, and I'm very much obliged to you for what you did," answered the girl. "But please don't say anything about it to anyone."

She stammered and blushed as though asking him to compound a felony.

"Nae, nae, I'll no breathe a word, gin ye dinna want me tae," he a.s.sured her. "Mr. Smeeth's man tells me a steam-pipe has burst.i.t in his cabin, sae I'll jes' gang doon and hae a speer at it," saying which the engineer left the chart-room, and, descending to the deck, made his way to the second-mate's cabin.

After an amiable exchange of greetings between himself and Smith, he found the leak in the steam-pipe and plugged it with cotton waste.

"'Tis a fine bit o' wark that Miss Fletcher has done," he remarked, preparing to leave.

"You mean gettin' the _Satellite_ off?" answered Smith. "Yes, Byles was telling me about it; said it was one of the finest feats of seamanship he'd ever seen."

"Aye, 'twas that. Mon, she'd mak' a splendid wife for a body who could manage her."

"D'you think so?" said Smith thoughtfully.

"Never a doot, lad. But the mon who'd be strang enoo' to marry the like o' her, would be strang enoo' not tae marry at a', I'm thinkin'."

There was a pause and McPhulach made to leave the cabin. As he was about to open the door, Smith called him back.

"Thinkin' it over," said he, "I ain't such a bad-lookin' cove, am I?"

"It's haird tae say," answered the engineer slowly. "Wi' a few alterations an' repairs, some women micht regaird ye as an Adonis."

"Never met the bloke. But," went on the second-mate, trying to pin the other down to a definite statement, "you wouldn't say I was hideous, would you?"

Again McPhulach regarded him critically before venturing an opinion.

"It's haird tae say," he replied at last.

"Oh hang!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Smith in disgust. "Still," he went on, "I'm blowed if I don't have a try."

"Eh?"

"She might do worse."

"D'ye mean that ye're goin' tae ax Mees Fletcher tae marry ye?"

"Why not?"

"You're a brave mon, Smeeth."

"But why shouldn't I?" reiterated the second-mate.

"I wish ye luck," said the engineer dryly. "Hoo-ever, I ken nae reason why ye shouldna ax her."

"D'you mean you don't think she'd have me?"

"Nae, nae, women hae quare tastes, an' it isna always the best-lookin'

mon that comes oot the best."

"Look here, Mac, d'you think you could put out a feeler for us?"