"What's the matter?" he stammered, astonished. He saw the steward, a coat hastily put on over his apron, Amos, whose glittering and protuberant eyes were less certain than ever of his future fortune, and Evanthia. She was not afraid. She was angry. She darted at Mr. Spokesly and broke into a torrent of invective against the two wretched beings who wanted to get into the boat and couldn't untie the ropes.
"Pigs, dogs, carrion!" she shrilled at them in Greek, and then to Mr. Spokesly she said,
"No. Ship's all right. Why don't you go down?"
"_Mon Dieu!_ Why? He asks why! Did you hear the noise? The bed is broken. The window, the lamp, _Brr-pp_!" She clapped her hands together. "Why? Go and see," and she turned away from him to rage once more at the two terrified creatures who had been unable to carry out her imperious orders. These had been to set her afloat in the lifeboat instantly; and willingly would they have done it, and gone in with her themselves; but alas, they had been unable to let the villainous boat drop into the water.
Mr. Spokesly was genuinely alarmed at this news. He left them precipitately and ran down the cabin stairs to find out if the ship was making water.
There was no need. The _Kalkis_, on rebounding from the terrific impact on her forecastle, had heeled over to starboard, the side of the ship had been buckled and crushed along the line of the deck, and the concussion had knocked the lamp out of its gimbals and it was rolling on the floor. He picked it up and relit it. He hurried out again to find the engineer. His training was urging him to get the wells sounded. Moreover, the filling of the forepeak through the smashed chain-locker had put the ship down by the head a little. She might be all right, but on the other hand....
He found the engineer calmly hauling the line out of the forward sounding pipes.
"Is she making anything, Chief?" he asked anxiously.
"Just show a light please, Mister Mate. I got a flashlight here but it's gone out on me. Why, four inches. Nothing much _here_. We'll try the other side, eh?"
They scrambled over the hatch and hastily wiped the rod dry before lowering it into the pipe.
"Hm!" The engineer grunted as he brought the rod into view again. "_Three feet!_ I reckon she's makin' some water here through that bulkhead, Mister Mate. What say if I try the pumps on her, eh?"