"That beast is out there," she said. "I peered out, and I think he
is sitting on the companion steps. You listen, and if he tries to
stop me I'll call you."
The stewardess was wide awake by that time. She thought perhaps
the bell, instead of coming from Mrs. Turner's room, had come from
the room adjoining Turner's, where Vail slept, and which had been
originally designed for Mrs. Turner. She suggested turning on the
light again and looking at the bell register; but Karen objected.
The stewardess sat up in her bed, which was the one under the small
window opening on the deck aft. She could not see through the door
directly, but a faint light came through the doorway as Karen opened
the door.
The girl stood there, looking out. Then suddenly she threw up her
hands and screamed, and the next moment there was a blow struck.
She staggered back a step or two, and fell into the room. The
stewardess saw a white figure in the doorway as the girl fell.
Almost instantly something whizzed by her, striking the end of a
pillow and bruising her arm. She must have fainted. When she
recovered, faint daylight was coming into the room, and the body
of the Danish girl was lying as it had fallen.
She tried to get up, and fainted again.
That was her story, and it did not tell us much that we needed to
know. She showed me her right arm, which was badly bruised and
discolored at the shoulder.
"What do you mean by a white figure?"
"It looked white: it seemed to shine."
"When I went to call you, Mrs. Sloane, the door to your room was
closed."
"I saw it closed!" she said positively. "I had forgotten that,
but now I remember. The axe fell beside me, and I tried to scream,
but I could not. I saw the door closed, very slowly and without a
sound. Then I fainted."
The thing was quite possible. Owing to the small size of the
cabin, and to the fact that it must accommodate two bunks, the door
opened out into the chart-room. Probably the woman had fainted
before I broke the lock of my door and fell into the main cabin.
But a white figure!
"Karen exclaimed," Miss Lee said slowly, "that some one was sitting
on the companion steps?"
"Yes, miss."
"And she thought that it was Mr. Turner?"
"Yes." The stewardess looked quickly at Mrs. Turner, and averted her
eyes. "It may have been all talk, miss, about his--about his
bothering her. She was a great one to fancy that men were following
her about."
Miss Lee got up and came to the door where I was standing.
"Surely we need not be prisoners any longer!" she said in an
undertone. "It is daylight. If I stay here I shall go crazy."