rough the crush until he came face to
face with the young officer.

"Out of the way, youngster," he shouted. "Who are you, to talk of
`right' at a time like this? The ship is on the rocks and sinking,
and--"

"Oh, my dear good man," interrupted Dick, wearily. "You make me tired.
Why do you start talking about things of which you know nothing, and try
to frighten your fellow passengers? You are the sort of chap who yells
blue murder if the lights in a picture theatre go out before you think
they ought, and starts a panic in which a lot of women and children get
badly hurt. Rocks! Why, we're hundreds of miles from the nearest land.
And as to the ship sinking, don't you know that she's unsinkable--that
she _can't_ sink? The fact is that we've hit a bit of ice in the
darkness, and all the bumping that you felt was just the ice being
broken up by the ship as she ran past it. Now, take my advice, all of
you; go back to your cabins and turn in, or some of you will be catching
bad colds. Where are the parents of those children in night-dresses?
Whoever they are, they ought to be ashamed of themselves for bringing
the poor little kiddies into the cold in that rig! Take 'em below and
put 'em to bed again, there's good people. And go to bed yourselves;
it's the most comfortable place in the ship on a night like this. I
wish I had the chance to go there."

Dick's one idea in talking had been to subdue the tendency towards panic
which he had observed in the crowd before him, and to a certain extent
he had succeeded. That is to say, the parents of the children in
nightgowns had sheepishly herded their flock back into the deck-house,
while a few of the other passengers had followed them. But the majority
still lingered, waiting perhaps to hear further particulars. And these
the big, burly man--who, from his somewhat "loud" costume, might be
taken for a pugilist or a doubtful frequenter of race courses--seemed
determined to have. Dick's sarcasm had produced no more effect upon him
than rain does upon a duck, and he still stood staring aggressively at
the young officer.

"That's all very well," he declared truculently; "but if there's no
danger, what are all them sailors so busy about the boats up there for?"

The boat deck was by this time a scene of feverish but orderly activity,
every available seaman being mustered there, busily engaged, under the
supervision of the chief and second officers, on the task of stri