r turn came. She pointed to the old man. "No, no,"
was the impatient answer from the officer. "But he iss so old," she
pleaded again. She was roughly told to hurry up and get into the boat or
stay behind. She marched back to her old husband, and gripped him
tightly by the arm. The boat left without her.

Cadogan saw these things, and a hundred others, without ever losing
sight of Miss Huttle. On the other side of the ship he knew that a gang
of ship's men were fighting for the possession of a boat for themselves.
He could hear them--half-smothered murmurs, cries, blows. He thought of
going to his room, and getting his automatic pistol, and jumping in
among them. But what good would it do? was his next thought. It would be
only to substitute one set of dead men for another; and, doing it, he
would lose sight of her.

At last she walked over to where the boat was ready to lower. Before she
stepped in she cast a long look above the heads of the crowd. The
thought that she might be looking for him set Cadogan to trembling. She
was pale. He drew farther back into the shadows. He saw her face peering
out again from the crowded hats, toques, and hoods of the close-packed
women as the boat was lowered.

She appeared to be still searching for some one in the crowd as the boat
disappeared below the deck rail. Cadogan forced his way to the rail to
watch it. It was rolled from side to side, bumped against the ship's
side, swung in and out as it descended. While yet some distance above
the water, it stuck. Cadogan could just make it out. The falls had
fouled. With a jerk the stern dropped several feet on the run, and the
boat hung again in air, now with bow up and stern down. There were
screams and shouts. Cadogan was at the rail, ready to leap, when the bow
unexpectedly dropped. The boat was level again. It was in the water and
floating. She was safe away.

Cadogan remained by the rail, tracing the course of the little boat on
the sea. When he could no longer see the shadow of it, nor hear the
voices from it, he still stayed, pursuing in his imagination her course
and position out there on the waters.

When he faced inboard, all the boats were away, and Meade and Crupp were
no longer on deck. He guessed they had gone into the smoking-room.

IV

Many other passengers had returned to the smoking-room by the time
Cadogan got there. Meade, Crupp, and Vogel were already seated at the
corner table. Cadogan sat down with them.