roup and came toward me.

"We'd better waken the women," he said. "If you'll tell them, Leslie,
I'll take the crew on deck and keep them there."

Singleton seemed dazed, and when Burns spoke of taking the men on deck,
he got up dizzily.

"I'm going too," he muttered. "I'll go crazy if I stay down here with
that."

The rug had been drawn back to show the crew what had happened. I drew
it reverently over the body again.

After the men had gone, I knocked at Mrs. Turner's door. It was some
time before she roused; when she answered, her voice was startled.

"What is it?"

"It's Leslie, Mrs. Turner. Will you come to the door?"

"In a moment."

She threw on a dressing-gown, and opened the door.

"What is wrong?"

I told her, as gently as I could. I thought she would faint; but she
pulled herself together and looked past me into the cabin.

"That is--?"

"The captain, Mrs. Turner."

"And Mr. Vail?"

"In his cabin."

"Where is Mr. Turner?"

"In his cabin, asleep."

She looked at me strangely, and, leaving the door, went into her
sister's room, next. I heard Miss Lee's low cry of horror, and almost
immediately the two women came to the doorway.

"Have you seen Mr. Turner?" Miss Lee demanded.

"Just now."

"Has Mrs. Johns been told?"

"Not yet."

She went herself to Mrs. Johns's cabin, and knocked. She got an
immediate answer, and Mrs. Johns, partly dressed, opened the door.

"What's the matter?" she demanded. "The whole crew is tramping outside
my windows. I hope we haven't struck an iceberg."

"Adele, don't faint, please. Something awful has happened."

"Turner! He has killed some one finally!"

"Hush, for Heaven's sake! Wilmer has been murdered, Adele--and the
captain."

Mrs. Johns had less control than the other women. She stood for an
instant, with a sort of horrible grin on her face. Then she went down
on the floor, full length, with a crash. Elsa Lee knelt beside her and
slid a pillow under her head.

"Call the maids, Leslie," she said quietly. "Karen has something for
this sort of thing. Tell her to bring it quickly."

I went the length of the cabin and into the chartroom. The maids' room
was here, on the port-side, and thus aft of Mrs. Turner's and Miss
Lee's rooms. It had one door only, and two small barred windows, one
above each of the two bunks.

I turned on the chart-room lights. At the top of the after
companionway the crew had been assembled, and Burn