"She'd have been suppin' along with us to-night, but she's nursin' that
poor sick lad, Ian Stuart, that's dyin'."

"Is the lad really dyin'?" asked Mitford, laying down his knife and
fork, and looking earnestly into his companion's face.

"Well, it looks like it. The poor little fellow seemed to me past
recoverin' the day he came on board, and the stuffy cabin, wi' the
heavin' o' the ship, has bin over much for him."

While he was speaking Nellie herself came softly to her husband's side
and sat down. Her face was very grave.

"The doctor says there's no hope," she said. "The poor boy may last a
few days, so he tells us, but he may be taken away at any moment. Pour
me out a cup o' tea, Bob. I must go back to him immediately. His poor
mother is so broken down that she's not fit to attend to him, and the
father's o' no use at all. He can only go about groanin'. No wonder;
Ian is their only child, Bob--their first-born. I can't bear to think
of it."

"But you'll break down yourself, Nell, if you go nursin' him every
night, an' all night, like this. Surely there's some o' the women on
board that'll be glad to lend a helpin' hand."

"I know _one_ who'll be only too happy to do that, whether she's well or
ill," said Mitford, rising with unwonted alacrity, and hastening to his
wife's berth.

Just then the bo's'n's stentorian voice was heard giving the order to
close reef tops'ls, and the hurried tramping of many feet on the deck
overhead, coupled with one or two heavy lurches of the ship, seemed to
justify the assistant cook's remark--"Sure it's durty weather we're
goin' to have, annyhow."

STORY ONE, CHAPTER 4.

The indications of bad weather which had been observed were not
misleading, for it not only became what Terrence O'Connor had termed
"durty," but it went on next day to develop a regular gale, insomuch
that every rag of canvas, except storm-sails, had to be taken in and the
hatches battened down, thus confining the passengers to the cabins.

These passengers looked at matters from wonderfully different points of
view, and felt accordingly. Surroundings had undoubtedly far greater
influence on some of them than was reasonable. Of course we refer to
the landsmen only. In the after-cabin, where all was light, cosy, and
comfortable, and well fastened, and where a considerable degree of
propriety existed, feelings were comparatively serene. Most of the
ladies sought the retirement of berths,