"Mind you, not minutes but only seconds had passed since the dog shot
outboard. The ship was not movin' fast. She heeled over again' and
her spars and flappin' canvas was almost over my head as I glanced up.
"And then I seen a sight--I did, for a fact. I cal'late you never give
a thought to how high the teetering top of a mast on such a vessel as
the _Sally S. Stern_ is, from the ocean level. Never did, eh?
"Well," as the enthralled Louise shook her head, "they're taller than a
lot of these tall buildings you see in the city. 'Skyscrapers' they
call 'em. That's what the old Sally's topmasts looked like gazin' up
at 'em out of the sea. They looked like they brushed the wind-driven
clouds chasin' overhead.
"And out o' that web of riggin' and small spars, and slattin' canvas,
and other gear, I seen a man's body hurled into the air. It was
Snowball, the man. Bill his right name was.
"Flung himself, he did, clean out o' the ship and as she heeled back to
starboard he shot down, feet first, straight as a die, and made a hole
in the sea not ha'f a cable's length from me and nearer the dog than I
was.
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