looking
around.

"A lie, from beginning to end," stormed Captain Bryce.

Rowland rose to his feet, but was pressed back by the big man who had
accompanied him--who then faced Captain Bryce and said, quietly:

"I saw a polar bear that this man killed in open fight. I saw his arm
afterward, and while nursing him away from death I heard no whines or
complaints. He can fight his own battles when well, and when sick I'll
do it for him. If you insult him again in my presence I'll knock your
teeth down your throat."

CHAPTER XII

There was a moment's silence while the two captains eyed one another,
broken by the attorney, who said:

"Whether this story is true or false, it certainly has no bearing on the
validity of the policy. If this happened, it was after the policy
attached and before the wreck of the _Titan_."

"But der concealment--der concealment," shouted Mr. Meyer, excitedly.

"Has no bearing, either. If he concealed anything it was done after the
wreck, and after your liability was confirmed. It was not even barratry.
You must pay this insurance."

"I will not bay it. I will not. I will fight you in der courts." Mr.
Meyer stamped up and down the floor in his excitement, then stopped with
a triumphant smile, and shook his finger into the face of the attorney.

"And even if der concealment will not vitiate der policy, der fact that
he had a drunken man on lookout when der _Titan_ struck der iceberg will
be enough. Go ahead and sue. I will not pay. He was part owner."

"You have no witnesses to that admission," said the attorney. Mr. Meyer
looked around the group and the smile left his face.

"Captain Bryce was mistaken," said Mr. Austen. "This man was drunk at
New York, like others of the crew. But he was sober and competent when
on lookout. I discussed theories of navigation with him during his trick
on the bridge that night and he spoke intelligently."

"But you yourself said, not ten minutes ago, that this man was in a
state of delirium tremens up to der collision," said Mr. Meyer.

"What I said and what I will admit under oath are two different things,"
said the officer, desperately. "I may have said anything under the
excitement of the moment--when we were accused of such an infamous
crime. I say now, that John Rowland, whatever may have been his
condition on the preceding night, was a sober and competent lookout at
the time of the wreck of the _Titan_."

"Thank you," said Rowland, dryly, to th