had hauled, and being then abeam had given her a list to starboard.
This, while not wholly satisfactory to the more experienced, allayed
the fears of the women--there were two or three on board beside the
widow--who welcomed the respite from the wrench and stagger of the
previous hours.

Attention was now drawn by a nervous passenger to a gang of sailors
under the First Officer, who were at work overhauling the boats on the
forward deck, immediately under the eyes of the Captain who had returned
to the bridge, as well as to an approaching wall of fog which, while he
was speaking, had blanketed the ship, sending two of the boat gang on
a run to the bow. The fog-horn also blew continuously, almost without
intermission. Now and then it too would give three short, sharp snorts,
as if of warning.

The passengers had now massed themselves in groups, some touch of
sympathy, or previous acquaintance, or trait of courage but recently
discovered, having drawn them together. Again the Captain passed down
the deck. This time he stopped to light a cigarette from a passenger's
cigar, remarking as he did so that it was "as thick as pea soup on the
bridge, but he thought it would lighten before morning." Then halting
beside the chair of an old lady who had but recently appeared on deck,
he congratulated her on her recovery and kept on his way to the boats.

The widow, however, was still anxious.

"What are they doing with the boats?" she asked, her eyes following the
Captain's disappearing figure.

"Only overhauling them, madam," spoke up the Texan, who had stationed
himself near her chair.

"But isn't that unusual!" she inquired in a tremulous voice.

"No, madam, just precaution, and always a safe one in a fog. Collision
comes so quick sometimes they don't have time even to clear the davits."

"But the sailors are carrying up boxes and kegs and putting them in
the boats; what's that for?" broke in another passenger, who had been
leaning over the forward rail.

"Grub and water, I guess," returned the Texan. "It's a thousand miles to
the nearest land, and there ain't no bakery on the way that I know of.
Can't be too careful when there's women and babies aboard, especially
little fellows like these--" and he ran his hand through the boy's
curls. "The Captain don't take no chances. That's what I like him for."

Again the current of hope submerged the current of despair. The slant of
the deck, however, increased, although the wi