“Hi, you there!  That’s my money-belt!” he cried, and jumped forward to claim his own.  But in his movement he failed to calculate with the waves.  The yacht gave another of her deep-sea plunges, and Jimmy, thrown against his bunk, saw the cook grab his kit and make for the ladder.  He regained his feet only in time to follow at arm’s length up the hatchway.  At the top he threw himself down, like a baseball runner making his base, after the seaman’s legs; but instead of a foot, he found himself clutching one of the wads of clothes that trailed after the cook’s bundle.  He caught it firmly and kept it, but the ship’s cook and the rest of his booty disappeared like a rabbit into its burrow.

Jim sat down at the top of the ladder and examined his haul.  It was a pair of woolen trousers, and they were of generous size.  He spread them out on the deck.  Round him were unmistakable signs of demoralization.  The second officer was ordering the men to the pumps in stern tones; the yacht was pitching wildly and growing darkness was settling on the face of the turbulent waters.  But in spite of it all, Jimmy’s spirit leaped forth in laughter as he thought of his brief, frantic chase, and its result in this capture of the characteristic vestiture of man.

“What’s money for, anyway!” he laughed, as he got up and clothed himself once more.

There followed hours of superhuman struggle to save the Jeanne D’Arc.  Her crew, sufficient in ordinary weather, was too small to cope with the storm and the leaking ship.  Ballast had to be shifted or flung overboard.  Repairs had to be attempted in the hold; the pumps had to be worked incessantly, It transpired that the yacht had gone far out of her course during the fog the night before, and had tried to turn inshore, even before the leak was discovered.  No one knew what waters they were that lashed so furiously about the disabled craft.  The storm overhead had abated, but the rage of the sea was unquelled.  Before long the engine was stopped by the rising water, and then the hand pumps were used.  There was some hope that the leak had been discovered and at least partly repaired.  The captain thought that, if carefully managed, the yacht might hold till daylight.

Jimmy joined the gang and worked like a Trojan, helping wherever a man was needed, shifting ballast, untackling the boats, handling the pump.  It was at the pump that he found himself, some time during the night, working endlessly, it seemed.  Not once had he lost sight of the real purpose of his presence on the yacht.  If Agatha Redmond were aboard the unlucky vessel—­and he had moments of curious perplexity about it—­he was there to watch for her safety.  He pictured her sitting somewhere in the endangered vessel.  She could not but be terrified at her predicament.  Whether shipwreck or abduction threatened her, she must feel that she had indeed fallen into the hands of her enemies.