bling's superstition, which showed itself in a predisposition for
table-tipping and patience-playing.

On walking to the other side of the deck, after a rather prolonged
absence, he was greeted with a shout.

"Hullo, father confessor!" they cried.

"Come be seated, my saviour," said Ingigerd, looking considerably better
and brighter than the day before.

Frederick turned slightly pale, but did as he was bidden and said in a
tone that did not harmonise with the good humour of the group:

"Mrs. Liebling was Rubinstein's pupil. I haven't met another woman on
this trip to whom it is so well worth the while to talk."

"All due respect to you, a matter of taste," said Doctor Wilhelm.

"Let him alone. My saviour is displeased," said Ingigerd.

It was evident that occasionally she stood in awe of Frederick.

LVII

Aside from little tiffs between Ingigerd and Frederick, the spirit on
board the _Hamburg_ was generally good-humoured, even jolly. The weather
remained clear, and the place of terror already lay eight hundred miles
behind in the ocean. Each minute carried the passengers of the _Roland_
farther along in their newly acquired lives. The ladies were feasted from
the cargo of tropical fruit in the hold of the vessel, which had a
carrying capacity of some two thousand register tons. Often the men for
Ingigerd's amusement would use the oranges for playing ball. The Atlantic
Ocean about the _Hamburg_ seemed a very different thing from that awful,
treacherous sea which had swallowed the _Roland_. It lay like a
wave-tossing heaven under the steamer, and gave it a gentle rocking
motion, by no means unpleasant. There was majesty in the course of even
the plain little trader, painted black above the water-line and red
below. Compared with that mechanical marvel, the _Roland_, it was like
a comfortable old stage-coach, and could be depended upon to make its
ten knots an hour with a great show of speed. Captain Butor in all
seriousness declared the castaways had brought him good luck. The moment
they appeared, the old man of the sea turned as peaceful and serene as an
octogenarian English rector.

"Yes," said Stoss, "but your old English rector first filled his belly
with a few hecatombs of human lives. Stop, look, listen! Don't be too
quick to trust him. When he's done assimilating, he'll have a still
better appetite."

Up to the very end of the trip, though there was a corpse on board and
the woman from the s