"Do you think that we can get her to take
it?"
"I doubt it," he answered. "With another man at the wheel
we might, though."
Below them the crew of the Halfmoon ran hither and
thither along the deck on the side away from the breakers.
They fought with one another for useless bits of planking and
cordage. The giant figure of the black cook, Blanco, rose
above the others. In his hand was a huge butcher knife. When
he saw a piece of wood he coveted in the hands of another he
rushed upon his helpless victim with wild, bestial howls, menacing
him with his gleaming weapon. Thus he was rapidly
accumulating the material for a life raft.
But there was a single figure upon the deck that did not
seem mad with terror. A huge fellow he was who stood leaning
against the capstan watching the wild antics of his fellows with
a certain wondering expression of incredulity, the while a
contemptuous smile curled his lips. As Barbara Harding chanced
to look in his direction he also chanced to turn his eyes
toward the wheelhouse. It was the mucker.
The girl was surprised that he, the greatest coward of them
all, should be showing no signs of cowardice now--probably
he was paralyzed with fright. The moment that the man saw
the two who were in the wheelhouse and the work that they
were doing he sprang quickly toward them.
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