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 the sky-deck only little specks appearing, clustering and scattering and clustering thicker as more pushed up from below—passengers they were, I knew; people in pandemonium scrambling and screaming for the boats.

Yet I saw, too, that discipline survived among the crew. Below, electricians worked at the lights and, beyond doubt, also at the radio; for the lights flashed on.

Instantly another bomb went down on the other side. It burst and lights went out and stayed out. The specks on the sky-deck shook and scattered at the shock like little shot on a tray which is tapped. The helplessness of the ship had passed beyond Bane's boast. If he had miscalculated, his error had been in the overuse of his power; the ship might not remain afloat long enough to be looted.

Those clustering, scrambling specks about the boats on the sky-deck—those specks which were men and women and children—proclaimed that the passengers were sure that the ship was sinking.

Far away, beyond sight from the Wotan, I saw a steamer; in a different direction, an-