deck, and a rocket
with a blue light flashed up into the sky. A man who had formed one of
the long line of passengers, leaning over the rail, watching the tug
since it had come into sight, now turned away and walked briskly to the
steps leading to the bridge. As it happened, the captain himself was
in the act of descending. The passenger accosted him, and held out what
seemed to be a letter.

"Captain Goodfellow," he said, "I should be glad if you would glance at
the contents of that note."

The captain, who had just finished a long discussion with the pilot and
was not in the best of humor, looked a little surprised.

"What, now?" he asked.

"If you please," was the quiet answer. "The matter is urgent."

"Who are you?" the captain asked.

"My name is Hamilton Fynes," the other answered. "I am a saloon
passenger on board your ship, although my name does not appear in the
list. That note has been in my pocket since we left New York, to deliver
to you in the event of a certain contingency happening."

"The contingency being?" the captain asked, tearing open the envelope
and moving a little nearer the electric light which shone out from the
smoking room.

"That the Lusitania did not land her passengers this evening."

The captain read the note, examined the signature carefully, and
whistled softly to himself.

"You know what is inside this?" he asked, looking into his companion's
face with some curiosity.

"Certainly," was the brief reply.

"Your name is Mr. Hamilton Fynes, the Mr. Hamilton Fynes mentioned in
this letter?"

"That is so," the passenger admitted.

The captain nodded.

"Well," he said, "you had better get down on the lower deck, port side.
By the bye, have you any friends with you?"

"I am quite alone," he answered.

"So much the better," the captain declared. "Don't tell any one that you
are going ashore if you can help it."

"I certainly will not, sir," the other answered. "Thank you very much."

"Of course, you know that you can't take your luggage with you?" the
captain remarked.

"That is of no consequence at all, sir," Mr. Hamilton Fynes answered. "I
will leave instructions for my trunk to be sent on after me. I have all
that I require, for the moment, in this suitcase."

The captain blew his whistle. Mr. Hamilton Fynes made his way quietly to
the lower deck, which was almost deserted. In a very few minutes he was
joined by half a dozen sailors, dragging a rope ladder. The l