ergen, introducing the two. "I bring him along because he is
the most ingenious man ever turned out by that home of ingenuity; and
when I saw that something was the matter with you, I came alongside,
more because I believed he could help you, than in the expectation
that I could be of any service."

"Captain Bergen does me too much honor," protested the stoop-shouldered
New Englander, who, had there been more of daylight, would have been
seen to blush under the compliment.

"I have no doubt he speaks the truth," replied Captain Strathmore,
leading the way below to where the broken shaft rested motionless;
"but this trouble is too much like a broken neck for any surgery to
help."

A minute later, a group of half a dozen stood about and stooped over
the broken shaft, and examined it by the aid of lanterns, the chief
engineer showing a more courteous spirit than is usual under such
circumstances.

As one looked at the huge cylinder of solid iron, gleaming with a
silvery whiteness all over the jagged face where it had been twisted
off, the wonder was how it could be possible for any force to be
tremendous enough to do such damage. The peculiarity about the
breakage, however, was that, instead of snapping nearly squarely off,
the fracture extended longitudinally for fully eighteen inches, so
that the face of each part was a great deal broader and longer than is
generally the case in such accidents.

The group surveyed it a minute or two in silence, stooping down and
feeling of the innumerable jagged protuberances, the indentations, and
the exceedingly rough surface, the minute particles gleaming in the
lamp-light like a mass of silver ore split apart.

The first remark came from the New Englander, Abe Storms.

"That is curious, for there are no signs of crystallization, nor can I
detect a flaw."

"Nevertheless, it must be there, for perfect iron would not have
broken in that manner," said the chief engineer.

"I beg your pardon," said the mate, courteously, "but it frequently
happens. There has been some peculiar combination of the movement of
the steamer on the swell of the sea, with the position of the screw at
that moment--a convergence of a hundred conditions--some almost
infinitesimal, but necessary, and which convergence is not likely to
take place in a million revolutions of the screw--that has brought an
irresistible strain upon the shaft--one that would have wrenched it
off, had the diameter been twice w