nite key.

It was the "S.O.S." call and the reply that had flashed through the
ether. A minute or so later the written signal, giving the appeal for
help and the position and name of the torpedoed liner, was handed to the
commander. A glance at the chart told that young but experienced
officer that he could not hope to bring his ship to the scene of the
disaster before dusk closed down, and a message was sparked across the
eighty miles of intervening sea asking how long the crippled ship could
be kept afloat.

To this, however, there came no reply, and the engines of the sloop were
put to full speed ahead. A heavy spray now commenced to sweep across the
deck in drenching showers, and the snow haze thickened. The pitching of
the ship increased as she raced over the ocean swell, driving her sharp
bows deep into the masses of sea. The limbs of the watch grew stiff and
numb, and a fine coating of wet salt stung their faces. Eyes ached from
gazing into the bitter wind, and for over four hours the race against
approaching night continued. If darkness closed down before that eighty
miles of sea was covered all on board realised that the chances of
finding any survivors would be greatly diminished. Even the strongest
vitality could not long resist exposure to the intense cold, and there
might be women and children in the sea ahead.

Many of the officers and crew of the sloop had experienced the agonies
of cold, wounds and salt water when cast adrift on wintry seas, and the
memory acted like a whip. As the hours went by the greenish tint of the
sea slowly turned to leaden-grey, and the pure white of the driving snow
contrasted sharply with the quickening dusk of the December night.

It was in the last half-hour of the dog watch that the sloop reached
the scene of the disaster and the speed was reduced. Scattered over the
sea around, and floating southwards in grim procession, was a mass of
wreckage--a broken raft, a number of deck-chairs, spars and cordage, a
life-belt and some oars--but of boats with living freights there was not
a sign.

Steaming slowly round in widening circles, the sloop searched while the
light lasted, but the whirling haze of fine snow blotted out the
distance, and soon the early darkness of a winter night settled over the
sea. The cold became intense. The white beam of a searchlight now
flashed out over the black waters. There was a grave risk in this
betraying light, one not sanctioned by the theory