Page:Paine--J Archibauld McKaney collector of whiskers.djvu/119

  As the morning wore on, the excitement, confusion, and painful suspense on deck baffled description. The captain of the Hoch Der Kaiser had no more time for his passengers. His crew was on the edge of a panic-stricken mutiny, and the officers were ordered to shoot the first deserter from his post. Men and women fought their way to the captain's deck to plead that he take to the life-boats. Pebotsky had been released and was in the hold in charge of a squad of seamen, his ears strained to detect the tell-tale clicking of hidden clockwork.

I had made my will before sailing, bequeathing the McKackney Whisker Collection to the American Society for the Promotion of Curious Science. Other passengers with less forethought were flocking around a lawyer in the dining saloon who was rapidly writing wills and sealing them up in bottles to be tossed overboard at the last moment.

As the time crept nearer and nearer noon, the grimy men from the engine and fire rooms began to pour on deck. They could not be [101