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diff --git a/23702.txt b/23702.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cc4117 --- /dev/null +++ b/23702.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1038 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A List To Starboard, by F. Hopkinson Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A List To Starboard + 1909 + +Author: F. Hopkinson Smith + +Illustrator: F. Hopkinson Smith + +Release Date: December 3, 2007 [EBook #23702] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LIST TO STARBOARD *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +A LIST TO STARBOARD + +By F. Hopkinson Smith + +1909 + + + + +I + +A short, square chunk of a man walked into a shipping office on the East +Side, and inquired for the Manager of the Line. He had kindly blue eyes, +a stub nose, and a mouth that shut to like a rat-trap, and stayed +shut. Under his chin hung a pair of half-moon whiskers which framed his +weather-beaten face as a spike collar frames a dog's. + +"You don't want to send this vessel to sea again," blurted out the +chunk. "She ought to go to the dry-dock. Her boats haven't had a +brushful of paint for a year; her boilers are caked clear to her +top flues, and her pumps won't take care of her bilge water. Charter +something else and lay her up." + +The Manager turned in his revolving chair and faced him. He was the +opposite of the Captain in weight, length, and thickness--a slim, +well-groomed, puffy-cheeked man of sixty with a pair of uncertain, badly +aimed eyes and a voice like the purr of a cat. + +"Oh, my dear Captain, you surely don't mean what you say. She is +perfectly seaworthy and sound. Just look at her inspection--" and he +passed him the certificate. + +"No--I don't want to see it! I know 'em by heart: it's a lie, whatever +it says. Give an inspector twenty dollars and he's stone blind." + +The Manager laughed softly. He had handled too many rebellious captains +in his time; they all had a protest of some kind--it was either the +crew, or the grub, or the coal, or the way she was stowed. Then he added +softly, more as a joke than anything else: + +"Not afraid, are you, Captain?" + +A crack started from the left-hand corner of the Captain's mouth, +crossed a fissure in his face, stopped within half an inch of his stub +nose, and died out in a smile of derision. + +"What I'm afraid of is neither here nor there. There's cattle +aboard--that is, there will be by to-morrow night; and there's a lot of +passengers booked, some of 'em women and children. It isn't honest to +ship 'em and you know it! As to her boilers send for the Chief Engineer. +He'll tell you. You call it taking risks; I call it murder!" + +"And so I understand you refuse to obey the orders of the Board?--and +yet she's got to sail on the 16th if she sinks outside." + +"When I refuse to obey the orders of the Board I'll tell the Board, not +you. And when I do tell 'em I'll tell 'em something else, and that is, +that this chartering of worn-out tramps, painting 'em up and putting 'em +into the Line, has got to stop, or there'll be trouble." + +"But this will be her last trip, Captain. Then we'll overhaul her." + +"I've heard that lie for a year. She'll run as long as they can insure +her and her cargo. As for the women and children, I suppose they don't +count--" and he turned on his heel and left the office. + +On the way out he met the Chief Engineer. + +"Do the best you can, Mike," he said; "orders are we sail on the 16th." + +***** + +On the fourth day out this conversation took place in the smoking-room +between a group of passengers. + +"Regular tub, this ship!" growled the Man-Who-Knew-It-All to the Bum +Actor. "Screw out of the water every souse she makes; lot of dirty +sailors skating over the decks instead of keeping below where they +belong; Chief Engineer loafing in the Captain's room every chance he +gets--there he goes now--and it's the second time since breakfast. And +the Captain is no better! And just look at the accommodations--three +stewards and a woman! What's that to look after thirty-five passengers? +Half the time I have to wait an hour to get something to eat--such as it +is. And my bunk wasn't made up yesterday until plumb night. That bunch +in the steerage must be having a hard time." + +"We get all we pay for," essayed the Travelling Man. "She ain't rigged +for cabin passengers, and the Captain don't want 'em. Didn't want +to take me--except our folks had a lot of stuff aboard. Had enough +passengers, he said." + +"Well, he took the widow and her two kids"--continued the +Man-Who-Knew-It-All--"and they were the last to get aboard. Half the +time he's playing nurse instead of looking after his ship. Had 'em all +on the bridge yesterday." + +"He _had_ to take 'em," protested the Travelling Man. "She was put under +his charge by his owners--so one of the stewards told me." + +"Oh!--_had to_, did he! Yes--I've been there before. No use +talking--this line's got to be investigated, and I'm going to do the +investigating as soon as I get ashore, and don't you forget it! What's +your opinion?" + +The Bum Actor made no reply. He had been cold and hungry too many days +and nights to find fault with anything. But for the generosity of a few +friends he would still be tramping the streets, sleeping where he could. +Three meals a day--four, if he wanted them--and a bed in a room all to +himself instead of being one in a row of ten, was heaven to him. What +the Captain, or the Engineer, or the crew, or anybody else did, was +of no moment, so he got back alive. As to the widow's children, he +had tried to pick up an acquaintance with them himself--especially +the boy--but she had taken them away when she saw how shabby were his +clothes. + +The Texas Cattle Agent now spoke up. He was a tall, raw-boned man, with +a red chin-whisker and red, weather-scorched face, whose clothing looked +as if it had been pulled out of shape in the effort to accommodate +itself to the spread of his shoulders and round of his thighs. His +trousers were tucked in his boots, the straps hanging loose. He +generally sat by himself in one corner of the cramped smoking-room, and +seldom took part in the conversation. The Bum Actor and he had exchanged +confidences the night before, and the Texan therefore felt justified in +answering in his friend's stead. + +"You're way off, friend," he said to the Man-Who-Knew-It-All. "There +ain't nothin' the matter with the Line, nor the ship, nor the Captain. +This is my sixth trip aboard of her, and I know! They had a strike among +the stevedores the day we sailed, and then, too, we've got a scrub lot +of stokers below, and the Captain's got to handle 'em just so. That kind +gets ugly when anything happens. I had sixty head of cattle aboard here +on my last trip over, and some of 'em got loose in a storm, and there +was hell to pay with the crew till things got straightened out. I ain't +much on shootin' irons, but they came handy that time. I helped and I +know. Got a couple in my cabin now. Needn't tell me nothin' about the +Captain. He's all there when he's wanted, and it don't take him more'n a +minute, either, to get busy." + +The door of the smoking-room opened and the object of his eulogy +strolled in. He was evidently just off the bridge, for the thrash of +the spray still glistened on his oilskins and on his gray, half-moon +whiskers. That his word was law aboard ship, and that he enforced it +in the fewest words possible, was evident in every line of his face +and every tone of his voice. If he deserved an overhauling it certainly +would not come from any one on board--least of all from Carhart--the +Man-Who-Knew-It-All. + +Loosening the thong that bound his so'wester to his chin, he slapped it +twice across a chair back, the water flying in every direction, and then +faced the room. + +"Mr. Bonner." + +"Yes, sir," answered the big-shouldered Texan, rising to his feet. + +"I'd like to see you for a minute," and without another word the two men +left the room and made their way in silence down the wet deck to where +the Chief Engineer stood. + +"Mike, this is Mr. Bonner; you remember him, don't you? You can rely on +his carrying out any orders you give him. If you need another man let +him pick him out--" and he continued on to his cabin. + +Once there the Captain closed the door behind him, shutting out the +pound and swash of the sea; took from a rack over his bunk a roll of +charts, spread one on a table and with his head in his hands studied +it carefully. The door opened and the Chief Engineer again stood beside +him. The Captain raised his head. + +"Will Bonner serve?" he asked. + +"Yes, glad to, and he thinks he's got another man. He's what he calls +out his way a 'tenderfoot,' he says, but he's game and can be depended +on. Have you made up your mind where she'll cross?"--and he bent over +the chart. + +The Captain picked up a pair of compasses, balanced them for a moment in +his fingers, and with the precision of a seamstress threading a needle, +dropped the points astride a wavy line known as the steamer track. + +The engineer nodded: + +"That will give us about twenty-two hours leeway," he said gravely, "if +we make twelve knots." + +"Yes, if you make twelve knots: can you do it?" + +"I can't say; depends on that gang of shovellers and the way they +behave. They're a tough lot--jail-birds and tramps, most of 'em. If +they get ugly there ain't but one thing left; that, I suppose, you won't +object to." + +The Captain paused for a moment in deep thought, glanced at the pin +prick in the chart, and said with a certain forceful meaning in his +voice: + +"No--not if there's no other way." + +The Chief Engineer waited, as if for further reply, replaced his cap, +and stepped out into the wind. He had got what he came for, and he had +got it straight. + +With the closing of the door the Captain rolled up the chart, laid it +in its place among the others, readjusted the thong of his so'wester, +stopped for a moment before a photograph of his wife and child, looked +at it long and earnestly, and then mounted the stairs to the bridge. +With the exception that the line of his mouth had straightened and +the knots in his eyebrows tightened, he was, despite the smoking-room +critics, the same bluff, determined sea-dog who had defied the Manager +the week before. + + + + +II + +When Bonner, half an hour later, returned to the smoking-room (he, too, +had caught the splash of the sea, the spray drenching the rail), the Bum +Actor crossed over and took the seat beside him. The Texan was the only +passenger who had spoken to him since he came aboard, and he had already +begun to feel lonely. This time he started the conversation by brushing +the salt spray from the Agent's coat. + +"Got wet, didn't you? Too bad! Wait till I wipe it off," and he dragged +a week-old handkerchief from his pocket. Then seeing that the Texan took +no notice of the attention, he added, "What did the Captain want?" + +The Texan did not reply. He was evidently absorbed in something outside +his immediate surroundings, for he continued to sit with bent back, his +elbows on his knees, his eyes on the floor. + +Again the question was repeated: + +"What did the Captain want? Nothing the matter, is there?" Fear had +always been his master--fear of poverty mostly--and it was poverty in +the worst form to others if he failed to get home. This thought had +haunted him night and day. + +"Yes and no. Don't worry--it'll all come out right. You seem nervous." + +"I am. I've been through a lot and have almost reached the end of my +rope. Have you got a wife at home?" The Texan shook his head. "Well, +if you had you'd understand better than I can tell you. I have, and a +three-year-old boy besides. I'd never have left them if I'd known. +I came over under contract for a six months' engagement and we were +stranded in Pittsburg and had hard work getting back to New York. Some +of them are there yet. All I want now is to get home--nothing else will +save them. Here's a letter from her I don't mind showing you--you can +see for yourself what I'm up against. The boy never was strong." + +The big Texan read it through carefully, handed it back without a +comment or word of sympathy, and then, with a glance around him, as if +in fear of being overheard, asked: + +"Can you keep your nerve in a mix-up?" + +"Do you mean a fight?" queried the Actor. + +"Maybe." + +"I don't like fights--never did." Anything that would imperil his safe +return was to be avoided. + +"I neither--but sometimes you've got to. Are you handy with a gun?" + +"Why?" + +"Nothing--I'm only asking." + +Carhart, the Man-Who-Knew-It-All, here lounged over from his seat by the +table and dropped into a chair beside them, cutting short his reply. The +Texan gave a significant look at the Actor, enforcing his silence, and +then buried his face in a newspaper a month old. + +Carhart spread his legs, tilted his head back on the chair, slanted his +stiff-brim hat until it made a thatch for his nose, and began one of his +customary growls: to the room--to the drenched port-holes--to the brim +of his hat; as a half-asleep dog sometimes does when things have gone +wrong with him--or he dreams they have. + +"This ship reminds me of another old tramp, the _Persia_," he drawled. +"Same scrub crew and same cut of a Captain. Hadn't been for two of the +passengers and me, we'd never got anywhere. Had a fire in the lower hold +in a lot of turpentine, and when they put that out we found her cargo +had shifted and she was down by the head about six feet. Then the crew +made a rush for the boats and left us with only four leaky ones to go +a thousand miles. They'd taken 'em all, hadn't been for me and another +fellow who stood over them with a gun." + +The Bum Actor raised his eyes. + +"What happened then?" he asked in a nervous voice. + +"Oh, we pitched in and righted things and got into port at last. But the +Captain was no good; he'd a-left with the crew if we'd let him." + +"Is the shifting of a cargo a serious matter?" continued the Actor. +"This is my second crossing and I'm not much up on such things." + +"Depends on the weather," interpolated a passenger. + +"And on how she's stowed," continued Car-hart. "I've been mistrusting +this ship ain't plumb on her keel. You can tell that from the way she +falls off after each wave strikes her. I have been out on deck looking +things over and she seems to me to be down by the stern more than she +ought." + +"Maybe she'll be lighter when more coal gets out of her," suggested +another passenger. + +"Yes, but she's listed some to starboard. I watched her awhile this +morning. She ain't loaded right, or she's loaded _wrong,-purpose_. That +occurs sometimes with a gang of striking stevedores." + +The noon whistle blew and the talk ended with the setting of everybody's +watch, except the Bum Actor's, whose timepiece decorated a shop-window +in the Bowery. + +***** + +That night one of those uncomfortable rumors, started doubtless by +Carhart's talk, shivered through the ship, its vibrations even reaching +the widow lying awake in her cabin. This said that some hundreds of +barrels of turpentine had broken loose and were smashing everything +below. If any one of them rolled into the furnaces an explosion would +follow which would send them all to eternity. That this absurdity was +immediately denied by the purser, who asserted with some vehemence that +there was not a gallon of turpentine aboard, did not wholly allay the +excitement, nor did it stifle the nervous anxiety which had now taken +possession of the passengers. + +As the day wore on several additional rumors joined those already +extant. One was dropped in the ear of the Texan by the Bum Actor as the +two stood on the upper deck watching the sea, which was rapidly falling. + +"I got so worried I thought I'd go down into the engine room myself," +he whispered. "I'm just back. Something's wrong down there, or I'm +mistaken. I wish you'd go and find out. I knew that turpentine yarn was +a lie, but I wanted to be sure, so I thought I'd ask one of the stokers +who had come up for a little air. He was about to answer me when the +Chief Engineer came down from the bridge, where he had been talking to +the Captain, and ordered the man below before he had time to fill his +lungs. I waited a little while, hoping he or some of the crew would +come up again, and then I went down the ladder myself. When I got to the +first landing I came bump up against the Chief Engineer. He was standing +in the gangway fooling with a revolver he had in his hand as if he'd +been cleaning it. 'I'll have to ask you to get back where you came +from,' he said. 'This ain't no place for passengers'--and up I came. +What do you think it means? I'd get ugly, too, if he kept me in that +heat and never let me get a whiff of air. I tell you, that's an awful +place down there. Suppose you go and take a look. Your knowing the +Captain might make some difference." + +"Were any of the stokers around?" "No--none of them. I didn't see a soul +but the Chief Engineer, and I didn't see him more than a minute." + +The big Texan moved closer to the rail and again scrutinized the +sky-line. He had kept this up all the morning, his eye searching +the horizon as he moved from one side of the ship to the other. The +inspection over, he slipped his arm through the Actor's and started him +down the deck toward the Cattle Agent's cabin. When the two emerged the +Texan's face still wore the look which had rested on it since the +time the Captain had called him from the smoking-room. The Actor's +countenance, however, had undergone a change. All his nervous timidity +was gone; his lips were tightly drawn, the line of the jaw more +determined. He looked like a man who had heard some news which had first +steadied and then solidified him. These changes often overtake men of +sensitive, highly strung natures. + +On the way back they encountered the Captain accompanied by the Chief +Engineer. The two were heading for the saloon, the bugle having sounded +for luncheon. As they passed by with their easy, swinging gait, the +passengers watched them closely. If there was danger in the air these +two officers, of all men, would know it. The Captain greeted the Texan +with a significant look, waited until the Actor had been presented, +looked the Texan's friend over from head to foot, and then with a nod to +several of the others halted opposite a steamer chair in which sat the +widow and her two children--one a baby and the other a boy of four--a +plump, hugable little fellow, every inch of whose surface invited a +caress. + +"Please stay a minute and let me talk to you, Captain," the widow +pleaded. "I've been so worried. None of these stories are true, are +they? There can't be any danger or you would have told me--wouldn't +you?" + +The Captain laughed heartily, so heartily that even the Chief Engineer +looked at him in astonishment. "What stories do you hear, my dear lady?" + +"That the steamer isn't loaded properly?" + +Again the Captain laughed, this time under the curls of the chubby boy +whom he had caught in his arms and was kissing eagerly. + +"Not loaded right?" he puffed at last when he got his breath. "Well, +well, what a pity! That yarn, I guess, comes from some of the navigators +in the smoking-room. They generally run the ship. Here, you little +rascal, turn out your toes and dance a jig for me. No--no--not that +way--this way-r-out with them! Here, let me show you. One--two--off +we go. Now the pigeon wing and the double twist and the rat-tat-tat, +rat-tat-tat--that's the way, my lad!" + +He had the boy's hands now, the child shouting with laughter, the +overjoyed mother clapping her hands as the big burly Captain with his +face twice as red from the exercise, danced back and forth across the +deck, the passengers forming a ring about them. + +"There!" sputtered the Captain, all out of breath from the exercise, as +he dropped the child back into the widow's arms. "Now all of you come +down to luncheon. The weather is getting better every minute. The glass +is rising and we are going to have a fine night." + +Carhart, who had watched the whole performance with an ill-concealed +sneer on his face, muttered to the man next him: + +"What did I tell you? He's a pretty kind of a Captain, ain't he? He's +mashed on the widow just as I told you. Smoking-room yarn, is it? I bet +I could pick out half a dozen men right in them chairs who could run +the ship as well as he does. Maybe we'll have to take charge, after +all--don't you think so, Mr. Bonner?" + +The Texan smiled grimly: "I'll let you do the picking, Mr. Carhart--" +and with his hand on the Actor's arm, the two went below. + +A counter-current now swept through the ship. If anything was really +the matter the Captain would not be dancing jigs, nor would he leave +the bridge for his meals. This, like all other counter-currents--wave or +otherwise--tossed up a bobble of dispute when the two clashed. There +was no doubt about it: Carhart had been "talking through his +hat"--"shooting off his mouth"--the man was "a gas bag," etc., etc. When +appeal for confirmation was made to the Texan and the Actor, who now +seemed inseparable, neither made reply. They evidently did not care to +be mixed up in what Bonner characterized with a grim smile as "more hot +air." + +All through the meal the Captain kept up his good-natured mood; chatting +with the widow who sat on his right, the baby in her lap; making a pig +of a lemon and some tooth-picks for the boy, who had crawled up into +his arms; exchanging nods and smiles down the length of the table with +several new arrivals, or congratulating those nearest to him on their +recovery after the storm, ending by carrying both boy and baby to the +upper deck--so that he might "not forget how to handle" his own when he +got back, he laughed in explanation. + + + + +III + +Luncheon over, the passengers, many of whom had been continuously in +their berths, began to crowd the decks. These soon discovered that the +ship was not on an even keel; a fact confirmed when attention was called +to the slant of the steamer chairs and the roll of an orange toward the +scuppers. Explanation was offered by the Texan, who argued that the +wind had hauled, and being then abeam had given her a list to starboard. +This, while not wholly satisfactory to the more experienced, allayed +the fears of the women--there were two or three on board beside the +widow--who welcomed the respite from the wrench and stagger of the +previous hours. + +Attention was now drawn by a nervous passenger to a gang of sailors +under the First Officer, who were at work overhauling the boats on the +forward deck, immediately under the eyes of the Captain who had returned +to the bridge, as well as to an approaching wall of fog which, while he +was speaking, had blanketed the ship, sending two of the boat gang on +a run to the bow. The fog-horn also blew continuously, almost without +intermission. Now and then it too would give three short, sharp snorts, +as if of warning. + +The passengers had now massed themselves in groups, some touch of +sympathy, or previous acquaintance, or trait of courage but recently +discovered, having drawn them together. Again the Captain passed down +the deck. This time he stopped to light a cigarette from a passenger's +cigar, remarking as he did so that it was "as thick as pea soup on the +bridge, but he thought it would lighten before morning." Then halting +beside the chair of an old lady who had but recently appeared on deck, +he congratulated her on her recovery and kept on his way to the boats. + +The widow, however, was still anxious. + +"What are they doing with the boats?" she asked, her eyes following the +Captain's disappearing figure. + +"Only overhauling them, madam," spoke up the Texan, who had stationed +himself near her chair. + +"But isn't that unusual!" she inquired in a tremulous voice. + +"No, madam, just precaution, and always a safe one in a fog. Collision +comes so quick sometimes they don't have time even to clear the davits." + +"But the sailors are carrying up boxes and kegs and putting them in +the boats; what's that for?" broke in another passenger, who had been +leaning over the forward rail. + +"Grub and water, I guess," returned the Texan. "It's a thousand miles to +the nearest land, and there ain't no bakery on the way that I know of. +Can't be too careful when there's women and babies aboard, especially +little fellows like these--" and he ran his hand through the boy's +curls. "The Captain don't take no chances. That's what I like him for." + +Again the current of hope submerged the current of despair. The slant of +the deck, however, increased, although the wind had gone down; so +much so that the steamer chairs had to be lashed to the iron hand-hold +skirting the wall of the upper cabins. So had the fog, which was now so +dense that it hid completely the work of the boat gang. + +With the passing of the afternoon and the approach of night, thus +deepening the gloom, there was added another and a new anxiety to the +drone of the fog-horn. This was a Coston signal which flashed from the +bridge, flooding the deck with light and pencilling masts and rigging in +lines of fire. These flashes kept up at intervals of five minutes, the +colors changing from time to time. + +An indefinable fear now swept through the vessel. The doubters and +scoffers from the smoking-room who stood huddled together near the +forward companion-way talked in whispers. The slant of the deck they +argued might be due to a shift of the cargo--a situation serious, but +not dangerous--but why burn Costons? The only men who seemed to be +holding their own, and who were still calm and undisturbed, were the +Texan and the Actor. These, during the conference, had moved toward the +flight of steps leading to the bridge and had taken their positions near +the bottom step, but within reach of the widow's chair. Once the Actor +loosened his coat and slipped in his hand as if to be sure of something +he did not want to lose. + +While this was going on the Captain left the bridge in charge of the +Second Officer and descended to his cabin. Reaching over his bunk, he +unhooked the picture of his wife and child, tore it from its frame, +looked at it intently for a moment, and then, with a sigh, slid it into +an inside pocket. This done, he stripped off his wet storm coat, thrust +his arms into a close-fitting reefing jacket, unhooked a holster from +its place, dropped its contents into his outside pocket, and walked +slowly down the flight of steps to where the Texan and the Actor stood +waiting. + +Then, facing the passengers, and in the same tone of voice with which he +would have ordered a cup of coffee from a steward, he said: + +"My friends, I find it necessary to abandon the ship. There is time +enough and no necessity for crowding. The boats are provisioned for +thirty days. The women and children will go first: this order will be +literally carried out; those who disobey it will have to be dealt with +in another way. This, I hope, you will not make necessary. I will also +tell you that I believe we are still within the steamer zone, although +the fog and weather have prevented any observation. Do you stay here, +madam. I'll come for you when I am ready--" and he laid his hand +encouragingly on the widow's arm. + +With this he turned to the Texan and the Actor: + +"You understand, both of you, do you not, Mr. Bonner? You and your +friend will guard the aft companion-way, and help the Chief Engineer +take care of the stokers and the steerage. I and the First Officer will +fill the boats." + +The beginning of a panic is like the beginning of a fire: first a curl +of smoke licking through a closed sash, then a rush of flame, and then a +roar freighted with death. Its subduing is along similar lines: A sharp +command clearing the way, concentrated effort, and courage. + +Here the curl of smoke was an agonized shriek from an elderly woman who +fell fainting on the deck; the rush of flame was a wild surge of men +hurling themselves toward the boats, and the roar which meant death was +the frenzied throng of begrimed half-naked stokers and crazed emigrants +who were wedged in a solid mass in the companion-way leading to the +upper deck. The subduing was the same. + +[Illustration: Back, all of you ] + +"Back, all of you!" shouted the Engineer. "The first man who passes +that door without my permission I'll kill! Five of you at a time--no +crowding--keep 'em in line, Mr. Bonner--you and your friend!" + +The Texan and the Bum Actor were within three feet of him as he +spoke--the Texan as cool as if he were keeping count of a drove of +steers, except that he tallied with the barrel of a six-shooter instead +of a note-book and pencil. The Bum Actor's face was deathly white and +his pistol hand trembled a little, but he did not flinch. He ranged the +lucky ones in line farther along, and kept them there. "Anything to +get home," he had told the Texan when he had slipped Bonner's other +revolver, an hour before, into his pocket. + +On the saloon deck the flame of fear was still raging, although the +sailors and the three stewards were so many moving automatons under +the First Officer's orders. The widow, with her baby held tight to her +breast, had not moved from where the Captain had placed her, nor had +she uttered a moan. The crisis was too great for anything but implicit +obedience. The Captain had kept his word, and had told her when danger +threatened; she must now wait for what God had in store for her. The boy +stood by the First Officer; he had clapped his hands and laughed when he +saw the first boat swung clear of the davits. + +Carhart was the color of ashes and could hardly articulate. He had edged +up close to the gangway where the boats were to be filled. Twice he had +tried to wedge himself between the First Officer and the rail and twice +had been pushed back--the last time with a swing that landed him against +a pile of steamer chairs. + +All this time the fog-horn had kept up its monotonous din, the Costons +flaring at intervals. The stoppage of either would only have added to +the terror now partly allayed by the Captain's encouraging talk, which +was picked up and repeated all over the ship. + +The first boat was now ready for passengers. + +"This way, madam--you first--" the Captain said to the widow. "You must +go alone with the baby, and I--" + +He did not finish the sentence. Something had caught his ear--something +that made him lunge heavily toward the rail, his eyes searching the +gloom, his hand cupped to his ear. + +"Hold hard, men!" he cried. "Keep still-all of you!" + +[Illustration: Hold hard men ] + +Out of the stillness of the night came the moan of a distant fog-horn. +This was followed by a wild cheer from the men at the boat davits. At +the same instant a dim, far-away light cut its way through the black +void, burned for a moment, and disappeared like a dying star. + +Another cheer went up. This time the watch on the foretop and the men +astride the nose sent it whirling through the choke and damp with an +added note of joy. + +The Captain turned to the widow. + +"That's her--that's the _St. Louis!_ I've been hoping for her all day, +and didn't give up until the fog shut in." + +"And we can stay here!" + +"No--we haven't a moment to lose. Our fires are nearly out now. We've +been in a sinking condition for forty-eight hours. We sprung a leak +where we couldn't get at it, and our pumps are clogged. + +"Stand aside, men! All ready, madam! No, you can't manage them +both--give me the boy,--I'll bring him in the last boat." + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A List To Starboard, by F. Hopkinson Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LIST TO STARBOARD *** + +***** This file should be named 23702.txt or 23702.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/0/23702/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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