words, Captain Senby cleared his
throat, then roared in a fog-horn voice:

"All hands stand by to abandon ship! Be lively, please, ladies. No man
stir over the side until the last woman has gone over!"

Some of the Red Cross women smilingly obeyed the order; others hung back.

"There are still some wounded men on board," pleaded one of them. "Let
the last wounded man go over the side, then we'll go."

"I'll kill any man on this deck who tries to go over until the last
woman is taken care of!" shouted Senby, drawing a revolver.

Some of the nurses still demurred, but the master was obdurate.

"Ladies," he called out, "this craft can't keep afloat much longer. Those
of you who hang back keep the men from their last chance to get away. I
tell you, and I mean it, that no man stirs over the side until the last
woman is on her way to a boat. Don't hold us all back, ladies!"

That swept aside the last reluctance of the nurses. They trooped forward,
to one side gangway or the other, and were quickly on their way into the
waiting boats.

One of them, however, drew back, then smiled and crossed the deck.

"I shall remain with you, Dave," announced a clear, firm voice, and Dave
turned to find Belle's steady hand resting on his arm.

"Are you going over the side, madam?" inquired Captain Senby, pleadingly.

"You must make an exception in my case, sir," Belle Darrin answered
smilingly. "I can hardly be expected to leave my husband at a time like
this."

"Oh!" gasped the Briton, understandingly. "Madam, you make me anxious,
but your devotion makes me proud of your sex!"

"Men, now!" shouted the Briton when he saw the last skirt flutter at the
top of a companionway.

"Now, you'll go over the side, sir, won't you?" asked the master,
anxiously, as two orderly files of men stepped to the sides.

"As the two commanders here," Dave answered, easily, "I believe that
tradition requires you and me to go over last of all, Captain Senby."

"But your wife, sir----"

"Is an American, Captain, who has taken the oath of service to her
country's flag just as you and I have done."

"But, madam, you----" began the Briton, turning to Belle.

"My husband has spoken, sir," smiled Belle. "Surely, Captain Senby, you
do not believe in mutiny."

The soldier patients who had remained behind when the nurses went over
the side were all men who could walk without assistance. These were now
going over, too. While this was going on the chief