erate look in the eyes
of these men, she felt that it would not be safe to speak to them.

Of the women, on the other hand, she had no fear; but there was
not one, even among them, to whom she would dare entrust her child.
They were all out of their senses, and could not have comprehended
what she wanted of them. She stood regarding them, wondering
whether there might not be one, perhaps, who had a bit of reason
left. But seeing them rush wildly past--some hugging the flowers
they had received on their departure from New York, others
shrieking and wringing their hands--she knew it was useless to
appeal to such frenzied people. Finally, she attempted to stop a
young man who had been her neighbour at table, and had shown her
marked attention.

"Oh, Mr. Martens--"

The man glowered at her with the same fixed savage stare that she
had seen in the eyes of the other men. He raised his cane
threateningly, and had she tried to detain him, he would have
struck her.

The next moment she heard a howl, which was hardly a howl, but
rather an angry murmur, as when a strong and sweeping wind becomes
bottled up in a narrow passage. It came from the people on the
companionway, whose progress had been suddenly impeded.

A cripple had been borne part way up the stairs--a man who was so
entirely helpless that he had to be carried to and from the table.
He was a large, heavy man, and his valet had with the greatest
difficulty managed to bear him on his back halfway up the stairs,
where he had paused to take breath. In the meantime, the pressure
from behind had become so tremendous that it had forced him to his
knees; and he and his master were taking up the whole width of the
stairway, thus creating an impassable obstruction.

Presently Mrs. Gordon saw a big, rough-looking man bend down, lift
up the cripple, and throw him over the banister. She also marked
that, horrible as was this spectacle, no one seemed to be either
shocked or moved by it. For nobody thought of anything save to rush
ahead. It was as if a stone lying in the road had been picked up
and tossed into the ditch--nothing more.

The young American mother saw that among these people there was no
hope of being saved; she and her children were doomed.

***

There were a young bride and groom on board who were on their
honeymoon. Their cabin was far down in the body of the ship, and
they had slept so soundly that they had not even heard the
collision. Nor was there mu