Trustee From the Toolroom by Nevil Shute Read Free Book Online Page B

be no longer able to swing the tiller. Then the ship would broach to and lie swept by every sea; they would be drowned. Shearwater would fill and sink, and Janice's future would sink with her. She was too tired now to care about themselves, but Janice was a sharp pain. Keith would look after her and bring her up, and he would do it well. But he would have to bring her up into his own way of life, not theirs; at sixteen she would have to start work in a shop.
    John Dermott came back to "the cockpit and took the helm from her. 'No good,' he shouted in her ear.
    She shouted back, ' Won't it go ?' He shook his head, and feghe settled down beside him, listless.
    About the middle of the morning something in the water .. ahead drew John's attention. He gave the helm to Jo and stood up against the companion, the wind tearing at his clothing, lashed by the spray. Visibility was between one and two miles. There was something different half a mile or so ahead of him; the backs of the seas looked different in some way. Then, over to the left a little, in a quick, passing glimpse, he saw what looked like the tops of palm trees above the waves.
    He turned with a heavy heart, and went back to his wife. 'There seems to be an island dead ahead,' he shouted. 'I think we're driving down on to a reef.'
    She nodded. She was now past caring.
    He took her hand. ' I'm sorry about 'this, Jo.'
    She smiled at him. 'It doesn't matter.'
    ' Can you take her a bit longer ? ' he asked. ' I want to see if we can dodge it.'
    She nodded, and he stood up again by the companion. It was clearer now, for they were closer. What he had seen was the backs of great combers breaking on a coral reef; the line of different surf extended both on port and starboard hands as far as he could see. He searched desperately for a break in the surf, something to indicate a passage through the reef into the sheltered lagoon that might lie beyond. If there were any break he would try to steer her off and run in through it, even though they might be overwhelmed in the process. He could see no break at all; it all looked just the same on either hand as far as he could see. There was no escape for them now. Shearwater was driving straight on to a coral reef in the Tuamotus somewhere, and would leave her bones upon the coral as many a tall ship had done before. He had not the remotest idea where they were.
    He came back to her and took the helm. In bad moments in the last forty-eight hours he had imagined this situation, and had thought it out. Better to take the coral straight, head-on, than to be thrown on to it on their beam ends, to have the hull crushed like an eggshell by the fury of the waves. 'Better to take it head-on, taking the shock on the* lead keel and trying to keep stern-on to the s^as. Reefs were seldom uniform in height; if they had the luck to strike a fissure, a patch where in calm water the coral was a couple of feet or more below the surface, they might possibly be driven over it into the lagoon, and still float, and live. He bent to explain this to his wife.
    'I want you to go below,' he shouted. 'When we strike, stay in the hull. She'll probably get full of water, but stay in the hull. Just keep your head above the water, but stay inside.'
    She shouted, 'What are you going to do?'
    'I'm going to stay up here and steer her on. I'll join you down below as soon as she strikes. It's our best chance. I don't think she'll break up.'
    ' If she breaks up, she'll stay on the reef, won't she ?'
    He knew what was in her mind. 'The keel will, and probably the frames.' He paused, and then leaned across and kissed her. 'Now go below.Tm sorry to have got you into this.'
    She kissed him in return. 'It's not your fault.' She stood up, waited her chance, opened the hatch and slipped down below, leaving it open for him to follow her.
    She sat down on one of the settees, the first-aid box in her hands. There were now only a few minutes to go. She thought she ought to say a prayer,