Read Trustee From the Toolroom for Free Online Page A

bar. With this increasing wind the speed of the ship through the water did not seem to be very much reduced; she still seemed to be making about three knots towards the north. Visibility was now only a few hundred yards.
    He went below and secured the companion hatch behind him. In the cabin it was dark and stuffy, lit only by one small glass port, tight shut, at the galley, and another at the companion. He went forward and lifted the forehatch a little, letting some air into the ship, and then came back and sat upon his berth, opposite Jo. He pulled the chart over to him from the chart table and sat studying it.
    Jo leaned across in the dim light. 'Where do you think we are?'
    He did not know with any certainty. ' I should say we're about here.' He laid his finger on the chart. Actually he was farther to the north and not so far to the west, but he did not know that.
    'What happens next?' she asked.
    'We'll just have to lie like this now till it moderates,' he said. 'I think the centre will pass south of us.'
    ' How long before it moderates ?' she asked.
    'Two days, I should think,' he said. 'Two days. Maybe, three.'
    ' Have we got that much room ?' she asked.
    He shook his head. 'No,' he said. 'No. I don't think we have.'
    'Too bad.' She smiled a little, and then said, 'Tell me, do you think we're going to pile her up ?'
    He glanced up at her. 'I hope not,' he replied. He ran his fingers down the line of the Tuamotus. 'The line of islands isn't very thick, and there's deep water all between them. We can steer her a bit downwind, running. If there's any visibility we should be able to run through them.' He paused, and then said a little bitterly, 'Like a drunk crossing the traffic in the Strand.'
    'We aren't drunk,' she said gently. 'A bit out of luck, perhaps, but not drunk.'
    He glanced at her. 'I'm sorry about this, Jo.'
    'We'll be all right,' she said. 'Lie down and get some sleep.' They lay down and rested, if not slept. The motion of the ship was too violent for any cooking, but in the course of the afternoon Jo managed to light a Primus and to brew some strong, sweet chocolate, and this revived them a little. She still had a few sandwiches left, but neither of them could eat. The bilge water was slopping over the cabin floor; inevitably a wooden ship will leak a little under such strains, and in the last two days a good deal of water had found its way below.
    In the middle of the afternoon John Dermott decided to pump the ship out. He pulled up the floorboards near the engine and left Jo to keep the suction clear of any debris in the bilge, and went out on deck himself by the forehatch. He was startled and concerned at the strength of the wind now, and the steepness of the seas behind them. As the yacht's stern rose upon the forward slope of each great wave the warp to the sea anchor stretched out taut behind her, the wafer pattering off it with the strain; then the crest passed, the surf filling the cockpit, and the rope relaxed.
    He crept aft on hands and knees on deck against the wind and the loose surf of each wave crest that slapped at him. With each step he refastened his lifeline, for the danger of being swept overboard was now a real one. He gained the cockpit, but he did not immediately begin to pump the ship. The sea anchor warp was more urgent, and he turned his attention to that.
    He had wrapped three teacloths around the rope at the stern fairhead, tying them to the warp with marline, to take the chafe. They were just about worn through; he cut the marline, working mostly under water, and remade the packing. The rope below the cloths did not seem to be damaged. He crouched waist deep in water in the flooded cockpit, watching it for a time. Everything seemed to be holding, but the strain was immense. If the sea anchor went - or when it went - there would then be nothing to be done but to come to the helm and steer the ship, running under bare poles before the storm towards the islands.
    He turned and