by this time showed in various stages of dressing--women
wringing their hands, men gesticulating. If there is anything calculated
to send a thrill of awe through a crowd, it is the cry of "Man
overboard!" And when one looked below, and saw above the drowning head
two white arms thrust from the sea, a horrible thing was brought home to
each of us. Besides, the scene before us on the deck was not reassuring.
There was trouble in getting the boat lowered. The first officer was
excited, the lascars were dazed, the stewards were hurried without being
confident; only Hungerford, Stone, and the gunner were collected. The
boat should have been launched in a minute, but still it hung between
its davits; its course downward was interrupted; something was wrong
with the ropes, "A false start, by---!" said the bookmaker, looking
through his eye-glass. Colonel Ryder's face was stern, Clovelly was pale
and anxious, as moment after moment went, and the boat was not yet free.
Ages seemed to pass before the boat was let down even with the bulwarks,
and a crew of ten, with Hungerford in command, were in it, ready to
be lowered. Whether the word was given to lower, or whether it was any
one's fault, may never perhaps be known; but, as the boat hung there,
suddenly it shot down at the stern, some one having let go the ropes at
that end; and the bow being still fast, it had fallen like a trap-door.
It seemed, on the instant, as if the whole crew were tossed into
the water; but some had successfully clutched the boat's side, and
Hungerford hung by a rope with one hand. In the eddying water, however,
about the reversing screw, were two heads, and farther off was a man
struggling. The face of one of the men near the screw was upturned for a
moment; it was that of Stone the quartermaster.

A cry went up from the passengers, and they swayed forward to the
suspended boat; but Colonel Ryder turned almost savagely upon them.
"Keep quiet!" he said. "Stand back! What can you do? Give the officers a
chance." He knew that there had been a false start, and bad work indeed;
but he also saw that the task of the officers must not be made harder.
His sternness had effect. The excited passengers drew back, and I took
his place in front of them. When the first effort had been made to lower
the boat, I asked the first officer if I could accompany the crew, but
he said no. I could, therefore, do nothing but wait. A change came on
the crowd. It became painfully