he had carried down to the
after house.

At two o'clock all hands gathered amidships, and the bodies were
carried forward to where the boat, lowered in its davits and braced,
lay on the deck. It had been lined with canvas and tarpaulin, and a
cover of similar material lay ready to be nailed in place. All the men
were bareheaded. Many were in tears. Miss Lee came forward with us,
and it was from her prayer-book that I, too moved for
self-consciousness, read the burial-service.

"I am the resurrection and the life," I read huskily.

The figures at my feet, in their canvas shrouds, rolled gently with the
rocking of the ship; the sun beat down on the decks, on the bare heads
of the men, on the gilt edges of the prayer-book, gleaming in the
light, on the last of the land-birds, drooping in the heat on the main
cross-trees.

"... For man walketh in a vain shadow," I read, "and disquieteth
himself in vain....

"O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength: before I go
hence, and be no more seen."

CHAPTER XI

THE DEAD LINE

Mrs. Johns and the stewardess came up late in the afternoon. We had
railed off a part of the deck around the forward companionway for them,
and none of the crew except the man on guard was allowed inside the
ropes. After a consultation, finding the ship very short-handed, and
unwilling with the night coming on to trust any of the men, Burns and I
decided to take over this duty ourselves, and, by stationing ourselves
at the top of the companionway, to combine the duties of officer on
watch and guard of the after house. To make the women doubly secure,
we had Oleson nail all the windows closed, although they were merely
portholes. Jones was no longer on guard below, and I had exchanged
Singleton's worthless revolver for my own serviceable one.

Mrs. Johns, carefully dressed, surveyed the railed-off deck with raised
eyebrows.

"For--us?" she asked, looking at me. The men were gathered about the
wheel aft, and were out of ear-shot. Mrs. Sloane had dropped into a
steamer-chair, and was lying back with closed eyes.

"Yes, Mrs. Johns."

"Where have you put them?"

I pointed to where the jolly-boat, on the port side of the ship, swung
on its davits.

"And the mate, Mr. Singleton?"

"He is in the forward house."

"What did you do with the--the weapon?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Morbid curiosity," she said, with a lightness of tone that rang false
to my ears. "And