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"I jumped back to the wheel and tried to bring her up into the

wind, but I might as well have tried to steer an ocean liner with

a sculling sweep. Not only was her rudder gone, but the tiller

ropes were parted on each side. It was damaged beyond repair!

"Once I read in school the funny poem of an American named

Holmes. It was called the 'One Hoss Shay,' and it told about an

old chaise that, after a hundred years of service, suddenly went

to pieces all at the same time and the same place. Even, in that

time of danger, the memory of the 'One Hoss Shay' came to me, and

I thought that the _May Schofield_ was doing exactly the same

thing, although only half as old."

"And then what happened?" asked Elsa, who had sat breathless

through Code's narrative.