kers, filling the bridge with
a mass of splinters, sticks, and broken wood. Captain Whalley picked
himself up and stood knee-deep in wreckage, torn, bleeding, knowing the
nature of the danger he had escaped mostly by the sound, and holding Mr.
Massy's coat in his arms.

By this time Sterne (he had been flung out of his bunk) had set the
engines astern. They worked for a few turns, then a voice bawled out,
"Get out of the damned engine-room, Jack!"--and they stopped; but the
ship had gone clear of the reef and lay still, with a heavy cloud of
steam issuing from the broken deckpipes, and vanishing in wispy shapes
into the night. Notwithstanding the suddenness of the disaster there was
no shouting, as if the very violence of the shock had half-stunned the
shadowy lot of people swaying here and there about her decks. The voice
of the Serang pronounced distinctly above the confused murmurs--

"Eight fathom." He had heaved the lead.

Mr. Sterne cried out next in a strained pitch--

"Where the devil has she got to? Where are we?"

Captain Whalley replied in a calm bass--

"Amongst the reefs to the eastward."

"You know it, sir? Then she will never get out again."

"She will be sunk in five minutes. Boats, Sterne. Even one will save you
all in this calm."

The Chinaman stokers went in a disorderly rush for the port boats.
Nobody tried to check them. The Malays, after a moment of confusion,
became quiet, and Mr. Sterne showed a good countenance. Captain Whalley
had not moved. His thoughts were darker than this night in which he had
lost his first ship.

"He made me lose a ship."

Another tall figure standing before him amongst the litter of the smash
on the bridge whispered insanely--

"Say nothing of it."

Massy stumbled closer. Captain Whalley heard the chattering of his
teeth.

"I have the coat."

"Throw it down and come along," urged the chattering voice.
"B-b-b-b-boat!"

"You will get fifteen years for this."

Mr. Massy had lost his voice. His speech was a mere dry rustling in his
throat.

"Have mercy!"

"Had you any when you made me lose my ship? Mr. Massy, you shall get
fifteen years for this!"

"I wanted money! Money! My own money! I will give you some money. Take
half of it. You love money yourself."

"There's a justice . . ."

Massy made an awful effort, and in a strange, half choked utterance--

"You blind devil! It's you that drove me to it."

Captain Whalley, hugging the coat to his