"What hope did Captain Courtenay hold out?" demanded Mrs. Somerville,
who had listened to Isobel's raving with small comprehension.
Elsie left unuttered the protest on her lips. They all thought she
possessed Courtenay's confidence in the same extraordinary degree.
Well, she would try to impart consolation in that way. It was
ridiculous, but it would serve.
"Of course we are in a desperate situation," she said, "but while the
ship holds together there is always a chance of rescue, and you can see
quite clearly that she is far from breaking up yet."
"Rescue! Did he speak of rescue?" cried Isobel. "That is impossible,
unless we take to the boats. And the cry in the saloon was that two
boats were lost long ago and a third just now. That is why we were
brought on deck. Were they launching a boat?"
"I don't know," said Elsie. "I was here quite alone, except for Joey."
"Ah, it was true then. He was acting secretly, and the men broke loose
as soon as they heard of it."
Elsie found this recurring suspicion of Courtenay's motives harder to
bear than the preceding paroxysm of unreasoning rage. She had heard
the shooting, bellowing, and tramping on deck, and she knew that some
terrible scene was being enacted there, while the mere fact that the
captain himself placed the female passengers in his cabin proved that
he was doing his best for all.
"I do not believe for one instant that Captain Courtenay was acting
otherwise than as a brave and honorable gentleman," she said; and then
the fantastic folly of such a dispute at such a moment overcame her.
She drew apart from Isobel, leaned against the wall of the cabin, and
wept unrestrainedly.
Her companions in misfortune did not realize how greatly her calm
self-reliance had comforted them until they witnessed this unlooked-for
collapse. The Spanish maid slipped to her knees, Mrs. Somerville began
to rock in her chair in a new agony, and Isobel, to whom a turbulent
spirit denied the relief of tears when they were most needed, buried
her face in a curtain which draped one of the windows.
It was thus that Courtenay found them, when he appeared at the door
after a lapse of time which none of them could measure.
"Now, Miss Maxwell, you first," he said with an air of authority which
betokened some new move of utmost importance.
"First--for what?" she managed to ask.
"You are going off in a boat. It is your best chance. Please be
quick."
"No, Miss Baring goes before me. Then the others, I shall come last."
"Have it as you will. I addressed you because you were nearest the
door. Come along, Miss Baring."
He waited for no further words. He grasped Isobel's arm and led her
out into the darkness. It seemed to be a very long time before he
returned.