h."

"I'll wager he doesn't foreclose, Mr. Yeager," answered Boris with a lip
smile.

Blythe cut short the repartee.

"We'll put this man in a stateroom and lock him up, Sedgwick. The rest
will stay here guarded by Alderson. If one of them makes a suspicious
move, shoot him down like a mad dog. Understand, my man?"

"Yes, sir. I'll see they make no trouble," Alderson answered
resolutely.

I made a suggestion to our captain. After a moment's consideration he
accepted it.

"Very good, Mr. Sedgwick. Have Gallagher, Neidlinger, and Higgins freed.
See that they clean the ship up till she is fresh as paint."

The first thing we did was to gather the bodies of the poor fellows who
had fallen in the struggles for the ship. Blythe read the burial service
before we sank the weighted corpses into the sea.

Under my direction the men then swabbed the decks, washed the woodwork,
and scoured the copper plates until they shone.

It was not until luncheon that I found time for more than a word with
Evelyn. None of us, I suppose, had suffered more than she and Miss
Berry, but they made it their business to help us forget the nightmare
through which we had lately passed.

I remember that Miss Wallace looked round from a gay little sally at
Jimmie with a smile in her eyes. I was reaching for some fruit when her
glance fell upon my hand.

"What's the matter with your fingers?" she asked quickly.

I withdrew my hand promptly. The flesh was swollen and discolored from
the attentions of Boris Bothwell.

"I had a little accident--nothing of importance," was my inadequate
answer.

Her gaze circled the table, passed from Sam's face to that of Jimmie and
from Jimmie to Higgins, who was waiting on us. She must have read a
confirmation of her intuition of a secret, for she dropped the subject
at once.

"Jack crushed his hand against a piece of iron," explained the captain.

At which Miss Evelyn murmured. "Oh!" and inquired how long it would
probably be before we reached the Bay of Panama.

"Using only our canvas we may reach there to-morrow night, and we may
not. We can't make very good time till we start the engines again,"
Blythe said.

"And when are you going to start them?" Miss Berry asked.

"Don't quite know. I'm shy of engineers. The only ones I have are on a
vacation," Sam answered with a smile.

They were not to enjoy one very long, however. About sunset the _Argos_
began to rock gently on a sea no longer glassy.