Just at that time the wireless operator had rushed excitedly into the captain’s cabin.
“There’s something up, sir. Just had an S.O.S.!”
“S.O.S.! What ship?”
“The Chichibu Maru, sir. The ship that’s been going along with us.”
“She’s an old rattletrap anyhow, that ship,” put in Asakawa who, still wearing his oilskins, was sitting in the corner with his legs stretched out. He was smiling and tapping scornfully on the floor with one foot. “If it comes to that, though, they’re all rattletraps.”
“They seem desperate!”
“Huh! That’s bad.”
The captain in haste, without putting on any coat or hat, had started to open the door in order to go to the steering-room. Before he could get it open, Asakawa, without warning, seized him by the right shoulder.
“Who’s ordered you to go out of your course unnecessarily?”
Who had ordered him? Wasn’t he the captain? Taken aback for the moment, he became as stiff as a poker but then he soon reasserted his position.
“As captain, I do it.”
“Captain is it?” The boss, with his arms stretched out sideways in front of the captain, raised his voice insultingly at the last word. “Look here, whose ship d’ye reckon this is? The company’s chartered and paid for it. The only ones who’ve got any say are Mr. Sugi and me. You, you’re called the captain and you think yourself bloody
