e, and there wait for further
orders. These boats took not only all the women and children, but also
as many men as room could be found for.

But all told there still remained nearly two thousand men aboard the
doomed ship, whose safety depended upon the possibility of launching the
collapsible boats and life rafts before the now rapidly sinking liner
foundered. And this possibility had become very questionable, for the
water had gained so much that the furnace fires had been extinguished
and steam was rapidly failing, with the result that the pumps were no
longer working at anything like full power. Moreover, although every
possible arrangement had been made to facilitate the launching of the
collapsible and other craft, much still remained to be done before they
would be ready to receive their complement of passengers and be
dispatched. Meanwhile the _Everest_ had settled so low in the water
that many of those still waiting were beginning to betray much
uneasiness, not to say restiveness, at the inevitable delay, this
restiveness being most apparent among the steerage passengers and, in a
lesser degree, among the second-class, while the first-class passengers,
almost to a man, not only displayed the most perfect coolness, but even
united with the officers of the ship in their efforts to allay the
rapidly growing impatience of the others.

Dick saw that trouble was brewing, and stimulated his gang of workers
both by voice and example, with the result that very soon he had a big
collapsible boat hooked on to the davit tackles and swung outboard. But
she still needed a certain amount of preparation before she would be
ready to receive her living cargo, and to complete that preparation
Cavendish ordered four of his gang of six men into her. Instantly a
crowd of excited foreigners from the steerage, probably mistaking the
action for an indication that the boat was ready, made a rush for her
and, thrusting Dick and his remaining two assistants aside, hurled
themselves frantically into her, shrieking and jabbering like maniacs.
The result, of course, was that the boat promptly collapsed, and taking
the intruders entirely by surprise, precipitated the greater number of
them into the water beneath, while the four seamen in her only escaped a
like fate by making a spring for and seizing the tackles and guys.

Dick, who with his two assistants had been knocked down and nearly
overboard by the rush, quickly scrambled to h