sed sailor came aft, exclaiming:

"What does this mean? Why are we put here on board these white
ships? What are they going to do with us?"

"Alas, ladies," he said, "they have put you here to die; they have
bored holes in the ships' bottoms, and in a few minutes they will
sink. It is a wholesale execution."

As he began to speak one of the ladies in the stern pushed her way
through the rest.

"Oh, Harry, is it you!" she exclaimed as he finished. "Is it true,
are we to die together?"

"We are in God's hands, Jeanne, but there is hope yet. Bring Virginie
forward with me."

At Harry's first words a panic had seized all around; one or two
ran to the hatchway and looked down into the hold, and screamed
out that the water was rushing in; then some cried to the distant
crowd to send to save them; others ran up and down as if demented;
while some threw themselves on their knees. But the panic soon
passed away; all had for weeks looked death in the face, and though
the unexpected form in which it appeared had for the moment shaken
them, they soon recovered. Mothers clasped their daughters to their
breasts for a last farewell, and then all with bowed heads kneeled
and listened in silence to an old man who began to pray aloud.

Jeanne, without another word, had taken Virginie's hands and
accompanied Harry forward to the fore part of the deck.

"Jeanne, I am going to try to save you and Virginie, but everything
depends upon your being cool and brave. I need not urge you, because
I am sure of you. Virginie, will you try to be so for Jeanne's sake
and your own? If you do not we must all die together."

"What are we to do, Harry?" Jeanne said steadily, while Virginie
clung to her sister sobbing bitterly.

"Fasten this bundle of corks between Virginie's shoulders high
up-yes, there."

While Jeanne was doing this, Harry fastened a rope to a ring in the
side of the hatch, then he tied the corks on to Jeanne's shoulders,
and adjusted the third bundle to his own. "Now, Jeanne," he said,
"I will tell you what we are going to do. You see this hatch; when
the vessel sinks it will float, and we must float on our backs with
our faces underneath it so that it will hide us from the sight of
the wretches on shore; and even if they put out in boats to kill
any who may be swimming or clinging to spars, they will not suspect
that there is anyone under this. We may not succeed; an accident
may betray us, but there is a possibility. At