"Lying head to sea," he said to Andrew. "Rankine might as well run into the harbor: he won't do much sounding to-night."
"That's plain. It doesn't look as if he thought sounding his most important job. Haul down the staysail."
Whitney scrambled forward, and when he let go the halyard he dropped on hands and knees. The straining sail would not run down the wire to which it was fastened, and he must cross the narrow deck to free it. He did not want to go; for the _Rowan_ buried her bows as she plunged, and the foam boiled over them a foot in depth; but the whitening of the sea to windward showed that a savage squall was on its way. He reached the inboard end of the bowsprit and held fast while a comber washed across the rail, and then, rising half upright, he seized the line that hung from the head of the sail. The loosened canvas thrashed him; he was swung to and fro, in danger of going overboard; but he held on until the sail came down with a run and fell on to his knees.
The plunges were not quite so vicious when he got back to the cockpit, but the alteration in the sail-spread made steering difficult, and Andrew strained against the pull of the tiller-line as he drove her through the squall.
In the meantime, the _Rowan_ had drawn nearer to the steamer, which now lay close ahead, rolling until her deck sloped like a roof, and then lurching back with her streaming side lifted high above the sea. Andrew went about and then ran close to leeward, where they checked the _Rowan_ by hauling her jib aback. A man in oilskins leaned out from the steamer's bridge, and the fading light touched his wet face.
"It's Rankine," said Andrew. "We must try to make him hear."
The next moment a shout came down across the broken seas that rolled between the vessels.
"To see you!" Andrew answered, throwing his voice to windward with all his force. "Important!"
Rankine steadied himself against the rail, with his glasses at his eyes.
"The _Rowan_; Mr. Johnstone! Could you jump on board our gig?"
"Can't leave the boat!" shouted Andrew, letting her forge ahead a few yards nearer.
Andrew waved his arm, and, trimming the jib over, drove the _Rowan_ ahead. As he did so, the steamer's screw splashed round half out of water, and she slowly turned toward the north.