DAY 16. AT SEA. EVENING.
There were gasps and screams as the ship listed on its side. Passengers clutched the edges of tables and chairs, and drinks spilled across the white tablecloths. For a terrifying interval, during which it seemed that the liner would capsize, there was panicked pandemonium, then it slowly settled upright, like a giant cork bobbing on a pond. The humming of the engines which had underpinned every conversation and activity for over two weeks had stopped, and in its place was an eerie silence. The Australis Star was stranded in the Pacific Ocean two day’s sail from Honolulu.
‘Is everyone all right?’ Genevieve asked when they were upright again, and the panic had subsided a little. She touched Peter’s arm on one side and the soft flesh of Thomas’s hand on the other. ‘
