Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/274

Rh was waiting in her place in the main dining salon.

Mr. Dunneston and young Preston, with the captain and one or two of the other officers, occupied the little platform at one end, where the orchestra usually played; and when the captain arose a few moments later, there was scarcely a place vacant in the whole salon.

"I have assembled you here, ladies and gentlemen," the commander started briskly, "not to soothe you with false assurances, but to acquaint you truthfully and fully with the situation which faces you passengers of the first cabin, so that you may take whatever precautions you consider proper to best deal with it.

"After having put this matter before you precisely as it has occurred," the captain continued, after he had finished his concise recount of the events of the night before, "I make no secret of the fact that I believe that the man known as Manling, of whom you all must have heard in England this summer, is 248