the winch blocks and steel wire cable that would enable a cable to be
taken down into the flooded engine room and out again through that long,
viciously fanged gash in the ship's side. When he looked at his Rolex
Oyster again, almost an hour had passed. The sun had gone and a
luminous green sky filled with the marvelous pyrotechnics of the Aurora
Australis turned the night eerie and mysterious.
All right, bosun, that's all we can do now. Bring your team up to the
bows. As they hurried forward along the open fore-dec, the wind caught
them, a single shrieking gust that had them reeling and. staggering and
grabbing for support, then it was past and the wind settled down to nag
and whine and pry at their clothing as Nick directed the work at the two
huge anchor winches; but he heard the rising sea starting to push and
stir the pack-ice, making it growl and whisper menacingly.
They catted the twin sea-anchors and with two men working over
Adventurer's side they secured collars of heavy chain to the crown of
each anchor. Warlock would now be able to drag those anchors out,
letting them bump along the - bottom, but in the opposite direction to
that in which they had been designed to drag, so that the pointed flukes
would not be able to dig in and hold.
Then, when the anchors were out to the full reach of their own chains,
Warlock would drop them, the flukes would dig in and hold. This was the
ground-tackle which might resist the efforts of even a force twelve wind
to throw Golden Adventurer further ashore.
When Baker had power on the ship, the anchor winches would be used to
kedge Golden Adventurer off the bank.
Nick placed much reliance on these enormously powerful winches to assist
Warlock's own engines, for even as they worked, he could feel through
the soles of his feet how heavily grounded the liner was.
It was a tense and heavy labour, for they were working with enormous
weights of dead-weight steel chain and shackles. The securing shackle,
which held the chain collar on the anchor crown, alone weighed three
hundred pounds and had to be manhandled by six men using complicated
tackle.
By the time they had the work finished, the wind was rising force six,
and wailing in the superstructure. The men were chilled and tired, and
tempers were flashing.
Nick led them back to the shelter of the main superstructure. His boots
seemed to be made of lead, and his lungs pumped for the solace of
cheroot smoke, and he realized irrelevantly that he had not slept now
for over fifty hours since he had fished that disturbing little girl
from the water. Quickly he pushed the thought of her aside, for it
distracted him from his purpose, and, as he stepped over the door-sill
into the liner's cold but wind-protected accommodation, he reached for
his cheroot-case.
Then he arrested the movement and blinked with surprise as suddenly
garish light blazed throughout the ship deck lights and internal lights,
so that instantly a festival air enveloped her and from the loudspeakers
on the deck above Nicholas, head wafted soft music as the broadcasting
equipment switched itself in. It was the voice of Donna Summer, as
