By holding my hand on the valve handle I could feel the vibration caused by the water gurgling from the mouth of the pipe. It gave me a sense of relief for about a minute; then it stopped gurgling-the tank was empty!

For an hour I sat there hoping for the best and praying for daylight and the blessed rays of the sun. We were drifting with a gentle breeze, and I could see the fog wraiths twisting and curling in the diffused light from the cabin window. The fog appeared less dense now. Presently I saw something moving just below my eyes. It was the ocean! The fog was rolling, but a few yards above the water, and we had dropped below it.

I sprang to my feet and ran back into the cabin where four five-gallon oil cans were stored. Hastily throwing open the gondola door, I started throwing the cans overboard.

Perry leaped from his cot. "What are you doing?" he cried. "Have you gone crazy?"

"We are almost in the ocean," I explained, "and the water ballast is all gone."

"Don't throw that oil overboard, you fool!" he screamed.

I tossed another can through the doorway. "Shut-up! We don't need oil without an engine."

He got up and came toward me. I thought I was in for another fight, but he said, "All right; I'll help you."

I picked up another can, and when I was near the doorway Perry threw himself upon my back and pushed me forward toward the opening. "You be ballast, you lousy cop!" he yelled. "That's all your damn carcass is good for."

I dropped the can and lunged forward toward the open doorway, my arms outspread. I thought I was gone; but I managed to catch the frame with one hand, and though my body swung out I kept my handhold and my feet. Then he tried to push me out. He was laughing hysterically--a horrible laugh. He beat at my back and my head with one hand and pushed with the other. I could feel my fingers slipping from their hold. I couldn't think of anything to do, but I clung to life in grim desperation. I could see the ocean rolling silently a few feet below. It had been waiting for me all this time, and now it was going to get me. I wanted to curse it. Suddenly, in the reckless fury of hopelessness, I raised one foot from the floor and kicked back viciously. That foot was one of the frail props that were holding me poised on the brink of the grave; without its support I nearly pitched headlong into eternity. My heel caught Perry in the groin. He screamed with pain and fell back, and I managed to cling to my precarious hold and then scrambled back into the cabin.

But Perry was not out; he was only hurt. He met me with a rush and we clinched. Then we went to the floor together. His one thought was to throw me overboard. I am larger and heavier and stronger than Perry.