g the tempest and giving promise of pulling
through safely, I could have sworn that I perceived a shade of
annoyance and disappointment growing upon his dark countenance. He
left the bridge finally and went below. I do not know that he is
directly responsible for what followed so shortly after; but I have
always had my suspicions, and Alvarez is even more prone to place the
blame upon him than I.

It was about six bells of the forenoon watch that Johnson returned to
the bridge after an absence of some thirty minutes. He seemed nervous
and ill at ease--a fact which made little impression on me at the time,
but which both Alvarez and I recalled subsequently.

Not three minutes after his reappearance at my side the Coldwater
suddenly commenced to lose headway. I seized the telephone at my
elbow, pressing upon the button which would call the chief engineer to
the instrument in the bowels of the ship, only to find him already at
the receiver attempting to reach me.

"Numbers one, two, and five engines have broken down, sir," he called.
"Shall we force the remaining three?"

"We can do nothing else," I bellowed into the transmitter.

"They won't stand the gaff, sir," he returned.

"Can you suggest a better plan?" I asked.

"No, sir," he replied.

"Then give them the gaff, lieutenant," I shouted back, and hung up the
receiver.

For twenty minutes the Coldwater bucked the great seas with her three
engines. I doubt if she advanced a foot; but it was enough to keep her
nose in the wind, and, at least, we were not drifting toward thirty.

Johnson and Alvarez were at my side when, without warning, the bow
swung swiftly around and the ship fell into the trough of the sea.

"The other three have gone," I said, and I happened to be looking at
Johnson as I spoke. Was it the shadow of a satisfied smile that
crossed his thin lips? I do not know; but at least he did not weep.

"You always have been curious, sir, about the great unknown beyond
thirty," he said. "You are in a good way to have your curiosity
satisfied." And then I could not mistake the slight sneer that curved
his upper lip. There must have been a trace of disrespect in his tone
or manner which escaped me, for Alvarez turned upon him like a flash.

"When Lieutenant Turck crosses thirty," he said, "we shall all cross
with him, and God help the officer or the man who reproaches him!"

"I shall not be a party to high treason," snapped Johnson. "The
r