Page:War's dark frame (IA warsdarkframe00camp).pdf/28

10 "He's sure to be at Liverpool. Suppose anything should happen to this boat?"

But for the most part she was silent.

"We will spend the night on deck," her mother said," in case anything happens."

In the smoke-room I heard men talking of sleeping on the lounges there. An elderly and morose commercial traveller heightened their misgivings with stories of his escape from the torpedoed Arabic.

“She went down in ten minutes. Five minutes would see the last of this boat she's loaded. If you were caught below decks—Good Night! Talk about rats in a trap!"

"Oh, forget it!" a man said under his breath. "I've heard that old fool sink the Arabic a dozen times in the last half hour. Once is enough for any boat."

But the morose traveller had been to the women with his premonitions. They wandered restlessly, or stared across the cold and troubled water, rehearsing his warnings. This one man had sewn the seeds of panic. The women didn't want to go to bed. Then a squad of sailors came by with hose, pails, and swabs.

They went to work with quiet confidence. One of them spoke good-naturedly.

“Better be off to bed, lydies. If you don't