He caught the latter by the arm and dragged him out onto the deck. The
hull of the ship at the bow must have been literally ripped away by the
impact against the reef; already the deck sloped sharply to the bows.

McTee raised a voice that rang like a trumpet over the clamor as he
gave his orders to clear away the boats. If he had been a moment
earlier, he might have succeeded in getting at least one of them safely
launched, but now the _Mary Rogers_ was settling to her doom with a
speed which made the crew senseless with terror. A half-gale which
promised to swell soon into a veritable hurricane seemed to be lifting
the freighter by the heel and driving her nose into the sea. The quick
settling twilight of the tropics made the waters doubly cold and dark.

Not till the bows of the _Mary Rogers_ were deep below the waves and
her propeller humming loudly in the air did the captain desist from his
efforts to bring order out of the panic of the crew. Half a dozen men,
with the Chinaman at their head, had cut one boat from its davits, but
plunging into it before it fairly struck the water, they tipped it far
to one side. It filled instantly and sank, leaving its occupants
struggling on the surface. The Chinaman, who apparently could not swim,
gave up the struggle at once. He threw his clutching hands high above
his head and went down; his scream was the first death cry of the wreck
of the _Mary Rogers_.

McTee, with Harrigan at his heels, rushed for the second lifeboat.
Under the directions of the captain, pointed and emphasized by blows of
his fist, the boat was swung safely from the davits and lowered to the
sea. The instant that it rode the waves, bouncing up and down on the
choppy surface, the crew began leaping in, the drunken mate being the