She tipped again, but this time to the left, flinging Mortimer against the other side of the doorframe he was braced against. “My God!” Mortimer yelped as he held on for dear life.
“Perhaps it would be better to return beneath the deck?” Mortimer wondered aloud, to the growing insanity before him.
Contemplating this decision, Mortimer froze at a silhouetted figure barreling toward him through the blackness.
“Back away!” Mortimer’s shriek was lost in the wind as the stranger reached out and grabbed his shirt.
“A storm like this and we’ll lose the canvas! All men must be at the ready!”
“Help!” Mortimer tried to wriggle free.
The grip was fierce. “She can hold it, but ye’ must begin to bail.”
“Bail?”
The man released Mortimer and pulled a bucket off the nail that was along the wal
