Once, while the boat was swung around by a wave, Clif sighted the strange ship. Something moving near the bow caught his eye, and he gave a start and almost dropped his oar.
“Steady, there! What is the matter with you?” came sternly from the lieutenant.
Clif said nothing, but his hands trembled as they clasped the oar again. His brain was in a whirl. He longed to rub his eyes to see if he was still awake, or if that which he had just seen or fancied he had seen, was real or a phantom.
The cadet behind him said as he leaned forward:
“Did you sight anything? You look white and scared.”
Clif compressed his lips, and maintained an uncompromising silence. He was not certain of his own senses, and he had no desire to expose himself to ridicule.
The whaleboat swept on and finally gained a position on the lee side of the tossing hulk. A weather-beaten rope dangling over the side promised a means of ascending to the deck.
“Catch it, one of you,” shouted the officer. “Shin up the side and take the painter.”
The position of the boat brought the rope within reach of Clif’s hands, and he lost no time in obeying the order.
Fortunately the black tarry strands were strong enough to bear his weight, and he was soon climbing agilely toward the high railing.
Slipping and sliding, up, up he went, the pressure of his feet dislodging masses of the strange, slimy green marine vegetation adhering to the storm-beaten planks.
Finally he grasped the rail and crawled over. Then, just as he disappeared, those below heard a strangling, unearthly cry, followed by the sounds of a desperate struggle.
Then came one shrill, agonizing appeal for help, and--silence!
The lieutenant and the crew of the whaleboat, at first aghast with horror and amazement, speedily recovered their wits.
Springing to his feet, the officer made a grasp for the dangling rope. Before he could reach it, a long wave swept along the rolling hull and caught the whaleboat upon its crest.
There was a surge and a violent wrench, and over went the luckless officer headlong into the sea. The frail craft was swept under the sloping stem, dashed once against the hull, and then it capsized, throwing the whole crew into the water.
All this was witnessed by the _Monongahela’s_ crew, and excitement reigned on board.