sity, he hurried down and
turned in, "all standing," to wait for breakfast and an explanation.

But no explanation was given him, either by events or the attitude of
the men. Those on deck avoided the after end of the boat--all except old
Kelly, whose duties brought him finally to the after guns and tubes;
but, while civilly lifting his cap to Miss Florrie, he was grouchy and
taciturn in his manner until his work was done, then he halted at the
galley hatch on his way forward to lean over and pronounce anathema on
the heads of the cooks because of the quality of the food.

While waiting for breakfast, Denman had listened to an angry and wordy
argument between the two cooks, in which Daniels had voiced his opinion
of Billings for waking him from his watch below to serve the prisoners.

When the watches were changed at eight bells that morning, he had heard
Hawkes and Davis, the two seamen of the deck department, protesting
violently to Jenkins at the promotion of Forsythe and Kelly, which left
them to do all the steering.

Jenkins had not answered orally, but his gestures overruled the protest.
Even Casey and Munson argued almost to quarreling over various "tricks
of their trade," which Denman, as he listened, could only surmise were
to form a part of the private code they had spoken of when haranguing
Jenkins.

There was a nervous unrest pervading them all which, while leaving
Florrie and Denman intact, even reached the engine room.

At noon Sampson and Dwyer were relieved, and the former turned back to
shout down the hatch:

"I told you to do it, and that goes. We've over-hauled and cleaned it.
You two assemble and oil it up this afternoon, or you'll hear from me at
eight bells."

The voice of Riley--who was nearly as large a man as Sampson--answered
hotly but inarticulately, and Denman could only ascribe the row to a
difference of opinion concerning the condition of some part of the
engines.

Sampson, though possibly a lesser engineer than the others of his
department, yet dominated them as Jenkins dominated them all--by pure
force of personality. He had made himself chief engineer, and his
orders were obeyed, as evidenced by the tranquil silence that emanated
from the engine room when Sampson returned at four in the afternoon.

All day the boat lay with quiet engines and a bare head of steam,
rolling slightly in a swell that now came from the east, while the sun
shone brightly overhead from east to west,