oil, and cheese from Fayal in the Azores, to
which it had carried a load of agricultural implements from Hamburg.

Frederick and Wilhelm could give little information concerning the cause
of the accident. Wilhelm said that shortly before six in the morning, he
had been awakened by a sound like the clang of a gong. In his half-waking
state, he thought it was the signal to dinner, until he remembered that
on the _Roland_ a trumpet blast was used to announce meals.

Frederick thought the _Roland_ had probably struck a wreck or a rock. But
rocks, the captain said, were out of the question. There were none in
those waters, and the _Roland_ could not have been carried by strong
currents into a region where there were rocks, since in that event the
life-boat would not have entered the course of his own vessel within so
short a time. The skipper, who knew Captain von Kessel personally and had
met him in Hamburg only recently, spoke of him in the highest terms, as
one of the most experienced, trustworthy captains in the German merchant
marine. The catastrophe, he said, was possibly the worst that had
occurred in decades, if the steamer had actually sunk and not been towed
into a port.

Before leaving, Captain Butor invited the two men, as soon as their task
was ended, to supper at the mess table.

An hour and a half passed. The physicians were about to give up their
attempts to resuscitate Mrs. Liebling, when her heart began to stir and
her breast to heave. Rosa's joy was boundless. With the greatest
difficulty restraining an emotional outburst, she felt the warmth return
even to Mrs. Liebling's soles, which she had been rubbing unwearyingly
with her palms, hard as flat-irons. The rescued woman was carried to bed
and packed in hot water bottles, like a premature baby.

This great success of the physicians' efforts--it was like a raising of
the dead--produced profound emotion in all that witnessed it, including
Frederick and Doctor Wilhelm, who were suddenly moved to shake hands with
each other.

"We have been saved," said Wilhelm. "The most improbable, the most
incredible thing has actually happened."

"Yes," rejoined Frederick. "It has actually happened. It _is_ absolutely
the most improbable thing that has ever occurred in my life. The question
is, What were we saved for?"

LI

The mess-room of the _Hamburg_ was a small square cabin with iron walls,
its only furniture a square table and a bench running around