“Answer to what?” Phyl asked, puzzled.
Before Tom could explain, a sudden gust of wind caused the ketch to heel over sharply. Both Phyl and Tom were thrown off balance and went sliding across the deck toward the waterl
CHAPTER XVII
A DANGEROUS RENDEZVOUS
“OH! They’re going overboard!” Sandy cried out in dismay. “Phyl! Tom!”
Luckily Tom managed to grab the low rail and hook one foot on a deck cleat just in time to save himself and Phyl.
Bud, meanwhile, was shouting at Sandy to let go the mainsheet as he himself threw the helm hard over. But even before the bow swung into the wind and the sails began to luff, the ketch seemed to right itself almost miraculously.
Both Tom and Phyl were drenched with spray. Sandy had towels ready as they made their way aft and scrambled into the cockpit.
“Good night! What happened to the gravitex stabilizers?” Sandy asked. “We almost capsized!”
“They’re working all right. In fact, that’s what righted us,” Tom replied. “I guess they just didn’t
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A DANGEROUS RENDEZVOUS 149
synchronize fast enough when that gust hit us.”
He examined the gravitex controls for a few moments, then took a screw driver and altered the fine-tuning adjustment of the feedback action.
“That should fix it,” he told the others.
“We hope!” Bud said wryly. He gave orders to come about.
To everyone’s delight, the ketch tacked so smoothly that the deck remained almost perfectly level throughout the maneuver.
“Nice going! I’m convinced!” Bud exclaimed.
“What a boon for ocean travelers!” Phyl added. “With stabilizers like these on a ship, no one aboard would ever get seasick.”