's-point, a seeming thickening of the
darkness and fog ahead resolved itself into the square sails of a
deep-laden ship, crossing the _Titan's_ bow, not half her length away.

"H--l and d--" growled the first officer. "Steady on your course,
quartermaster," he shouted. "Stand from under on deck." He turned a
lever which closed compartments, pushed a button marked--"Captain's
Room," and crouched down, awaiting the crash.

There was hardly a crash. A slight jar shook the forward end of the
_Titan_ and sliding down her fore-topmast-stay and rattling on deck came
a shower of small spars, sails, blocks, and wire rope. Then, in the
darkness to starboard and port, two darker shapes shot by--the two
halves of the ship she had cut through; and from one of these shapes,
where still burned a binnacle light, was heard, high above the confused
murmur of shouts and shrieks, a sailorly voice:

"May the curse of God light on you and your cheese-knife, you
brass-bound murderers."

The shapes were swallowed in the blackness astern; the cries were hushed
by the clamor of the gale, and the steamship _Titan_ swung back to her
course. The first officer had not turned the lever of the engine-room
telegraph.

The boatswain bounded up the steps of the bridge for instructions.

"Put men at the hatches and doors. Send every one who comes on deck to
the chart-room. Tell the watchman to notice what the passengers have
learned, and clear away that wreck forward as soon as possible." The
voice of the officer was hoarse and strained as he gave these
directions, and the "aye, aye, sir" of the boatswain was uttered in a
gasp.

CHAPTER IV

The crow's-nest "lookout," sixty feet above the deck, had seen every
detail of the horror, from the moment when the upper sails of the doomed
ship had appeared to him above the fog to the time when the last tangle
of wreckage was cut away by his watchmates below. When relieved at four
bells, he descended with as little strength in his limbs as was
compatible with safety in the rigging. At the rail, the boatswain met
him.

"Report your relief, Rowland," he said, "and go into the chart-room!"

On the bridge, as he gave the name of his successor, the first officer
seized his hand, pressed it, and repeated the boatswain's order. In the
chart-room, he found the captain of the _Titan_, pale-faced and intense
in manner, seated at a table, and, grouped around him, the whole of the
watch on deck except the office