Page:The Great Secret.djvu/50

34 wait, although each moment of delay meant wasted gold to his owners. He was saying,—

"Five years ago we had a similar stoppage about this very part of the voyage, on the first long trip of the Empire, which delayed us five hours, yet we were able to make it up before reaching King George's Sound. It was nothing but the extra caution of the engineer on that occasion, as new machinery has to be humoured as well as new wives."

As he made this small joke, seeing that peace and order had been restored, the captain rose with a general smile around the company, and left the saloon.

With the half-dozen oil lanterns which the stewards had placed at equal distances from each other on the tables, the effect was gloomy in the extreme in that richly-decorated saloon, where huge masses of shadow lay along the sides and corners. The passengers also, though tranquillised considerably, had by no means got over their vague fears, and now appeared disposed to venture on the deck. They gathered round the tables, and ordered drinks, which the stewards, also very silent, placed before them, trying to get up a kind of Dutch courage.

Philip Mortlake led Mrs Austin to one of the side couches, and sat down beside her. As he looked at her face, he saw that the weariness seemed to have left it. There appeared a flush on her cheeks, and her eyes were brighter; altogether she looked as if ten years had rolled away, at which he wondered.

"The captain is a brave man," she murmured to her companion in tones meant only for his ears.

"Do you think, then, that there is more in this than he has explained?"

"I know it," she replied; "and so does he and his officers; see what the stewards are bringing in."