"
The fellow took a firm grip of my monkey-jacket, and I made for the
door. The water washed up to my knees, but I soon inserted my fingers
in the crevice of the door and thrust it open.
The house was a single compartment, though I had expected to find it
divided into two. In the centre was a table that traveled on
stanchions from the roof to the deck, On either side were a couple of
bunks. The girl stood near the door. In a bunk to the left of the
door lay an old man with white hair. Prostrate on his back, on the
deck, with his arms stretched against his ears, was the corpse of a
man, well dressed; and in a bunk on the right sat a sailor, who, when
he saw me, yelled out and snapped his fingers, making horrible grimaces.
Such, in brief, was the _coup d'oeil_ of that weird interior as it met
my eyes.
I seized the girl by the arm.
"You first," said I. "Come; there is no time to be lost."
But she shrunk back, pressing against the door with her hand to prevent
me from pulling her, crying in a husky voice, and looking at the old
man with the white hair, "My father first! my father first!"
"You shall all be saved, but you must obey me.
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