Still no answer.
Then:
"Damn you, you jumped-up cockney crocodile! Can't you hear? Are you
blooming-well deaf?"
There was no answer, and the Second Mate turned to me.
"Jump aloft, smartly now, Jessop, and see what's wrong!"
"i, i, Sir," I said and made a run for the rigging. I felt a bit queer.
Had Williams gone mad? He certainly always had been a bit funny. Or--and
the thought came with a jump--had he seen--I did not finish. Suddenly,
up aloft, there sounded a frightful scream. I stopped, with my hand on
the sheerpole. The next instant, something fell out of the darkness--a
heavy body, that struck the deck near the waiting men, with a tremendous
crash and a loud, ringing, wheezy sound that sickened me. Several of the
men shouted out loud in their fright, and let go of the haulyards; but
luckily the stopper held it, and the yard did not come down. Then, for
the space of several seconds, there was a dead silence among the crowd;
and it seemed to me that the wind had in it a strange moaning note.
The Second Mate was the first to speak.
Pages:
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77