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. Norry steered the ship until the bow was dead-on
to the half-sunken vessel.
The water was muddy, a turbid brown mixture. It was
impossible to see the usual changes in sea color that warn of
shallows. Dunvane stared hard at the water, praying they
wouldn't run aground.
"Keep us off that wreck," ordered the captain. "I don't
want to foul her."
A sailor went forward with a hefty boat hook in hand.
At the last moment, Norry spun the wheel, and the
SUNCHASER sheered left of the wreck.
A figure rose up on top of the hulk and waved both
arms.
"Bring him aboard!" shouted Dunvane, and the sailor
with the boat hook held it out to the castaway. The mud-
coated figure threw both arms around the pole. The sailor
levered him up and around.
Dunvane's attention was drawn from the rescue by a
scraping sound below him. He looked down to where the
side of the SUNCHASER was brushing against the wreck.
Tufts of hay, tied with string, broke loose and floated away
from the sunken ship. Bundled straw . . . thatch from a roof . . .
"I'll be damned!" Dunvane exclaimed. "That's no ship! It's
a house!"
The rescued castaway collapsed on deck. Dunvane slid
down a line and dropped onto the deck beside the stranger -
a woman.
"Thank you!" she gasped, brown eyes gleaming out
from under a thick mask of mud. She kissed Dunvane's
hand fervently. "Bless you, sir! I saw your ship and thought
it was a vision - !" Her voice choked off.
Embarrassed, the captain pulled away and stood up
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