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The Review ok Reviews: 



sort of discipline c6uld have been established amonj^ 

 the more blackguardly males, for their games were 

 senseless and olTensive. 



COUNTING THE BOATS. 



On the fifth night out the moon shone beautifully, 

 and we were surrounded by a fretwork of silver. I 

 could not sleep for the very delight of living, and 1 

 walked up and down crooning over old rhymes under 

 the glad mystery of the night. A sudden freak prompted 

 me to hoist myself up from the alley, and I had a look 

 at four of the boats. The thole-pins were laid ready, 

 water-casks made fast forward, oars lashed handily; 

 plugs out. I I'ounted the thwarts, and it struck me 

 that the other four boats must be pretty big. for the 

 four amidships were certainlv small enough. At the 

 finish I calculated that by loading all the eight boats 

 down to the water's edge, and packing the children 

 along the bottom boards, we might accommodate 

 390 people. We were carrying 916 altogether. 



" VESSEL ON STARBOARD BOW." 



The next morning at three o'clock I felt restless ; so 

 I came up, and found that we were lunging over a long, 

 true sea that moved in grey hillocks under a thick 

 haze. It was not exactly a fog, but it was puzzling. 

 The look-out man sang shrilly, " Vessel away on the 

 starboard bow, sir." " All right." We steamed on, and 

 I watched the looming ship. " Shows his green, sir ! " 

 " All right." A minute after the boatswain ran swiftly 

 aft, and said softly to the officer on the bridge : " He's 



going about, sir. D d if I know what he wants to 



do." We lost sight of the vessel's green just as we 

 cleared the big bank of haze, and then I saw that a 

 big barque was standing right across our bows. I 

 glanced at the mate, and saw him compress his lips ; 

 then I saw that we were edging away to port, and I 

 knew that our man was going to shoot across the 

 barque's bows. Distances are so deceptive that I still 

 had no thought of nervousness till the barque suddenly 

 shook out her square mainsail and came surging away 

 till we saw her red light. What could one make of 

 this ? 



THE COLLISION. 



1 he officer yelled of a sudden, with an oath, 

 "Starboard — for Christ's sake, starboard !" — and then. 

 as if by magic, the cloud of canvas seemed to overtop 

 us. I saw the officer hanging to the rails, and as I 

 jumped on the hatches I noticed, with forlorn curiosity, 

 that his knuckles were white. I heard a long scraunch, 

 and then the barque bounded back a few yards, while 

 the steamer trailed on ; she came slowly into us again, 

 and I heard her bows crashing, for she had dashed 



clean against the baulks of the stokehold. One shrill 

 scream came shuddering up from the cabin — only one 

 — then a murmur, then a hoarse burst of yelling ; then 

 a man came up ana cried, " Oh, my God ! " and then, 

 in a wild, remorseless, ferocious crowd the steerage 

 men trampled up, struggling, tearing each other's 

 clothes, cursing, praying. Some of the women battered 

 and screamed as they tried to force the bolts of their 

 door ; then the whole crowd broke clear, and soon they 

 were clinging to the men, praying, jabbering with notes 

 of horrible pathos all kinds of incoherences. 1 ran aft, 

 and saw the barque waver, lurch, and then sink. 



, AFTERWARDS. 



I remember now observing how her masts quivered, 

 and I heard a report like that of a heavy cannon as her 

 hatches were thrust up by the air. A green-and-white 

 mountain gleamed in the grey of the dawn, and then 

 the ship was no more. The ladies from the cabin were 

 mostly in their nightdresses, and the men also had no 

 time to dress. I saw white, drawn faces, and I noticed 

 particularly my English gentleman and his daughter. 

 She was hanging to his arm, and 1 thought she was 

 shaking convulsively, but she kept her lips tight, and 

 only the deadly stare of her eyes flashing from the 

 pallor of her writhing face told of her trouble. The 

 captain rushed forward buckling his belt as he came. 

 He was in his shirt-sleeves, and I saw the butt of a 

 Deringer peeping from his Yankee pocket behind him. 



STAND BY THE BOATS. 



From below there came a queer sucking sound, with 

 an occasional long gurgle, and I saw that the \essi-l 

 seemed to " hang " as the seas met her. The second 

 officer, who was a smart man, had passed a spare sail 

 over the side, and I knew he wanted to reeve it under 

 her, but he might just as well have tried to stop the 

 midfUe arch of London Bridge. The engines were still 

 kept going, but the deck slanted steadily, and the list 

 to starboard reached an angle that- made it difficult to 

 stand at all, especially as the uneasy, staggering lunges 

 of the steamer were taking her anyhow. An awkward 

 rush of men swayed forward ; the boxer and his gang 

 made a desperate attempt to get one of the boats 

 clear ; cursing and praying, they hacked at the tackles 

 with knives ; soine of them swarmed up, and stood on 

 the thwarts tearing savagely at the chains ; but the 

 boats were made fast to stand heavy weather, and only 

 skilled sailors could launch them. A loud crack, fol- 

 lowed by a wallowing noise like thunder, rendered all 

 other sounds insignificant, and the captain, who was 

 going out to New ^'ork, said : " The bulkhead's gone. 

 We must take our chance now." The ship stopped 



