ne had seemingly improved. To all appearance, she
alone among the passengers, now that Christobal was gone, realized
vaguely the perilous plight of the _Kansas_. The fact was that even a
girl of her apparently frivolous disposition could not avoid the
influences of environment.

In a maritime community like that of Valparaiso there was every reason
to know and dread the rock-bound coast which fringed the southern path
towards civilization. Strange, half-forgotten stories of the terrors
which await a disabled ship caught in a southwesterly gale on the
Pacific side of Tierra del Fuego rose dimly in her mind. And the
advancing darkness did not tend towards cheerfulness. In her new
track, the _Kansas_ had turned her back on the murky light which
penetrated the storm-clouds towards the west. Unhinged by the external
gloom and the prevalent uncertainty, and finding that no one cared to
dispute with her, Isobel felt that a scream or two would be a relief.
For once, pride was helpful--it saved her from hysteria.

The curious sense of waiting, they knew not for what, which dulled the
thoughts and stilled the tongues of the small company at the table,
soon communicated itself to the stewards. The men stood in little
knots, exchanging few words, and those mostly meaningless; but the
chief steward, whose trained ear caught the regular beat of the
donkey-engine, woke them up with a series of sharp orders.

"Switch on the lights," he said loudly. "Clear the table and hurry up
with the coffee. Get a move on those fellows, Gomez. Have you never
before been in a ship when the screw stopped?"

The Gomez thus appealed to was the Englishman's second-in-command; he
acted as interpreter when anything out of the common was required. He
muttered a few words in the Hispano-Indian patois which his hearers
best understood, and the scene in the saloon changed with wondrous
suddenness. The glow of the electric lamps banished the gathering
shadows. The luxurious comfort of the apartment soon dispelled the
notion of danger. Coffee was brought. The smoking saloon was
inaccessible, owing to the closing of the gangway, but the chief
steward suggested that the gentlemen might smoke if the ladies were
agreeable. Under such circumstances the ladies always are agreeable,
and the instant result was a distinct rise in the social barometer.

The noise of the steam exhaust ceased as abruptly as it began. The
ship was riding easily in spite