pipe, and
indulging in a querulous explanation of his unusual behaviour. Which
would not be his fault for once, Mr. Spokesly reflected. No doubt,
however, Captain Rannie would log him for deserting the ship. Mr.
Spokesly went aft and looked at the boat near which he had been standing
when the collision happened. It was hanging by the after davit, a mere
bunch of smashed sticks. Trailing in the water and making a soft
swishing sound were the bow plates and bulwarks which had been peeled
from the forepart of the _Kalkis_ by the sharp prow of the stranger. And
yet she seemed to have suffered nothing below the water-line. Mr.
Spokesly, who knew Plouff kept the sounding rod in his cabin, wondered
how he was going to sound the wells. He thought of the engineer, stepped
over to the port side to reach the after ladder, and pulled himself up
short to avoid falling over a huddled group gathered alongside the
engine-room hatch.

"What's the matter?" he stammered, astonished. He saw the steward, a
coat hastily put on over his apron, Amos, whose glittering and
protuberant eyes were less certain than ever of his future fortune, and
Evanthia. She was not afraid. She was angry. She darted at Mr. Spokesly
and broke into a torrent of invective against the two wretched beings
who wanted to get into the boat and couldn't untie the ropes.

"Pigs, dogs, carrion!" she shrilled at them in Greek, and then to Mr.
Spokesly she said,

"The ship. Is it finished?"

"No. Ship's all right. Why don't you go down?"

"_Mon Dieu!_ Why? He asks why! Did you hear the noise? The bed is
broken. The window, the lamp, _Brr-pp_!" She clapped her hands together.
"Why? Go and see," and she turned away from him to rage once more at the
two terrified creatures who had been unable to carry out her imperious
orders. These had been to set her afloat in the lifeboat instantly; and
willingly would they have done it, and gone in with her themselves; but
alas, they had been unable to let the villainous boat drop into the
water.

Mr. Spokesly was genuinely alarmed at this news. He left them
precipitately and ran down the cabin stairs to find out if the ship was
making water.

There was no need. The _Kalkis_, on rebounding from the terrific impact
on her forecastle, had heeled over to starboard, the side of the ship
had been buckled and crushed along the line of the deck, and the
concussion had knocked the lamp out of its gimbals and it was rolling on
the floor. H