headed for another mark.

The work was nervous, because dangerous shoals bordered the channels and
Davies must let the steamer go. He knew when a risk must be run and the
engineer was staunch. The trouble was, _Oreana's_ boilers were bad; the
money Cartwright durst not spend on repairs would have been a good
investment now. Still, the old boat was fast, and Davies would drive her
full-speed.

The captain's job would not be easier when he left the shoals. The
easterly gale would send the floes up stream. Cartwright knew the
strange chill one felt when ice was about and the faint elusive _blink_
that marked its edge in the dark. Sometimes one did not see the blink
until the floe was almost at the bows, and when the look-out's startled
cry reached the bridge one must trust to luck and pull the helm over
quick. Then to dodge the floe might mean one crashed upon the next. It
was steering blind, but, as a rule, the sailor's instinct guided him
right. Farther on, the river got wide and in thick weather one saw no
lights: Davies must keep mid-channel and trust his reckoning while he
rushed her along. For a thousand miles the old boat's track was haunted
by dangers against which one could not guard, and Cartwright thought she
carried his last chance to mend his broken fortunes.

If she were wrecked, the reckoning he had long put off must be fronted,
for when his embarrassments were known his antagonists would combine and
try to pull him down. One must pay for one's extravagance, but to pay
would break him, and if he were broken, Mortimer would sneer and Grace
treat him with humiliating pity. He would be their mother's pensioner,
and to lose his independence was hard. He had long ruled, and bullied,
others.

By and by a waitress moved some glasses and Cartwright looked up with a
start. The afternoon was nearly over; he must have gone to sleep.
Returning to the office, he gave his bookkeeper some orders and then
went to the station. The pavements were slippery with frost, and tall
buildings with yellow lights loomed in the fog. Cartwright shivered, but
reflected that Davies, fighting the snow and gale, was no doubt colder.
For a day or two he must bear the suspense, and then, if no cablegram
arrived, he could take it for granted that _Oreana_ had reached the
Atlantic. After dinner he sat by the fire and smoked while Mrs.
Cartwright knitted.

"In the afternoon I went to Mrs. Oliver's and met Mrs. Seaton," she said
presently.