His comrade was just in time to lift the signalling lamp from a bracket on the after side of the bulkhead when a vicious sea poured inboard. The stem dipped, then, jerked forward by the strain of the towrope, the yacht plunged her bows under till there was solid water as far aft as the mainmast. Just then the hawser parted like a piece of pack-thread, and the _Diomeda_ was drifting helplessly under bare poles in the midst of the angry sea.
SMITH'S first act was to put the helm hard down, but so fierce was the wind and so stunning the blows of the steep, crested waves that the yacht soon lost way. She wallowed sluggishly in the trough of the sea, cascades of water pouring over her on all sides. A crash, just audible above the roar of the elements, announced that one of the panes of the cabin skylight had been broken.
"Up with the mizen!" shouted the skipper.
There was no time to reef the sail. Staggering upon the wedge-shaped part of the deck abaft the mizen-mast, Smith tore frantically at the sail-tyers, while the boom charged to and fro with the force of a sledge-hammer as far as the scope of the sheet permitted.
Wellnigh breathless he regained the cockpit.
Flapping with a series of whip-like cracks the stout canvas was hoisted. The men expected every moment to see the sail split asunder and the mast go bodily over the side. It was with feelings of relief that they saw the sorely pressed craft swing round head to wind without the threatened calamities taking place.
"We're all right for a bit," gasped Smith. "Where's the _Boxer_?"
As he spoke a searchlight flashed out of the darkness. For a few moments it swung in a more or less horizontal direction, as far as the erratic motion of the destroyer permitted; but as soon as the beam fell upon the _Diomeda_ the light was immediately screened.
"They've picked us up," said Stirling. "They'll stand by us."
Again the searchlight threw out its rays, and to the astonishment of both men they saw revealed the British destroyer less than a quarter of a mile away. In the brilliant light the _Boxer_ could be seen plugging her bows into the vicious waves. The spindrift was flying high over her four squat funnels, cascades of foam were pouring from her fo'c'sle deck, while, owing to the greatly reduced speed, she was rolling like a barrel.