gic a way was opened out. The vanguard knew exactly how to
act, and faced about when the main gates were reached. Here there was a
hitch, but a threat to fire a volley through the bars was effectual, and
the whole party got through, though even the hardened doctors looked
grave when they heard the wail of anguish that went up from the
multitude without as the gates clashed against further ingress.

Of course, as might be expected, there were hundreds of influential
people, both British subjects and Belgians, already inside. To them
Dalroy gave no immediate heed. Merely requesting the doctor to keep his
contingent together and distinct, he sought the harbour-master.

No orders had been received as yet from the mayor, and the incoming
steamer, quite a small craft, was already in the channel.

The harbour-master, a decent fellow, whose sole anxiety was to act for
the best, readily agreed to Dalroy's plan, so the vessel, whose skipper
had actually brought her to Ostend that evening "on spec," as he put it,
was moored at a distance of some ten feet from the quay.

"How many people can you carry?" was Dalroy's first question to the
captain.

"Well, sir," came the surprising answer, "we're licensed by the Board of
Trade to carry forty-five passengers in summer, but, in a pinch like
this, I'll try and stow away two hundred!"

After that there was no hitch. A gangway was fixed in position, the
armed guard were disposed around it, and the doctors and Dalroy, with a
representative of the burgomaster who arrived later, constituted
themselves a committee of selection. The hospital staff and their
patients were placed on board first. Wounded soldiers picked up in
Ostend itself were given the next claim. Then British subjects, and,
finally, Belgian refugees, were admitted.

It was a long and tedious yet almost heart-breaking business, but the
order of priority established a method whereby claims might be tested
with some show of equity. At last, at some hour, none knew or cared
exactly when, the steamer forged slowly out into the channel, backed,
and swung, amid the shrieks and lamentations of the thousands who were
left to the tender mercies of _Kultur_.

In addition to her crew, she carried 739 passengers, mostly wounded
soldiers, women, and children!

There was no room to lie down, save in the space rigidly preserved for
the stretcher cases. The decks, the cabins, the holds, were packed tight
with a living freight. Surely