The Stowaway Girl

  CHAPTER VII

  CROSS PURPOSES

  Though Iris gave such warlike counsel, it would be doing her a graveinjustice to assume that her gentle disposition was changed because ofthe day's sufferings. The erstwhile light-hearted schoolgirl andyouthful mistress of her uncle's house had been subjected to dynamicinfluences. The ordeal through which she had passed, unscathed bodilybut seared in spirit, had left her strung to a tense pitch. Relaxationhad not come--as yet. She only knew that she resented to the uttermostthe Brazilians' malevolent fury. Hers was a nature that could notendure unfairness. It was unfair of David Verity to seek to mend hisshattered fortunes by forcing her into a hateful marriage; unfair ofboth Verity and Coke to found their new venture on a great fraud; andmonstrously unfair of these island factionaries to vent their spite onan innocent ship. So, for the hour, she was inspired. It is thehigh-souled enthusiast who devotes life itself to a cause; those whopractice oppression have ever most to beware of in the man or womanwhose conscience will not condone a wrong.

  Of course, in this present clash of emotions, Iris little understoodwhat her advice really meant. She was appealing to heaven rather thanto the force of arms. To one of her temperament, it seemed incrediblethat a number of inoffensive strangers should be slaughtered because aSouth American republic could not agree in choosing a president. Sucha thing was unheard of in her previous experience, built on no moresolid foundation than the humdrum existence of Brussels and Bootle.And the inhabitants of neither Brussels nor Bootle settle theirpolitical differences by shooting casual visitors at sight.

  Oddly enough, the only professional soldier present condemned herproject roundly when it was mooted.

  "In leaving the island to-night you are acting on an assumption,"protested Captain San Benavides to his chief. "You cannot be sure thatthe _Andros-y-Mela_ will not appear. The arrangement is that she is tosend a boat here soon after midnight, yet, if this mad scheme of anattack on armed troops by unarmed men is persisted in, we must begin toferry to the island long before that hour. In all probability, weshall be discovered at once. At the very moment that our friends areeagerly awaiting us on board the ship we may be lying dead on theisland. The notion is preposterous. Be guided by me, Dom Corria, anddecline to have anything to do with it. Better still, let theseEnglish boors promise to forget that we are alive; then Marcel canguide them to the landing-place, where they will be shot speedily andcomfortably. There is no sense in sacrificing the girl. She must bekept here on some pretext."

  The ex-President took thought before he answered. He did not denyhimself that the confident air of these hard-bitten sailors made strongappeal to his judgment. He had his own reasons for distrusting someamong his professed supporters, and he did not share his militaryaide's opinion as to the coming of the promised vessel.

  "There is a good deal in what you say, senhor adjudante," he announcedafter his bright eyes had dwelt on San Benavides' expressive face inthoughtful scrutiny. "In England they have a proverb that a man cannotboth run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, but such maxims arenot framed for would-be Presidents. I fear we must fall in with ourallies' views, _faute de mieux_. You and I have to lead a headstrongarmy. That little Hercules of a commander is stubborn as a mule--amule that has the strength and courage of a wild boar. The younger manthinks only of the girl's safety. He, at least, will not consent toleave her. Both, backed by their crew, will not scruple to sacrificeus if their interests point that way. Trust me to twist them into thecourse that shall best serve our own needs. I am now going to tellthem that you approve of their plan."

  Forthwith he launched out into an English version of the excellentcaptain's comments. His precise, well-turned periods were admirable.Their marked defect was that he said the exact contrary to SanBenavides.

  Iris, having a born aptitude for languages, spoke French and Germanwith some proficiency. She had also devoted many hours to the study ofSpanish during the past winter, and it happens that the Portuguese ofBrazil is less unlike Spanish than the Portuguese of Lisbon. InEurope, national antipathies serve to accentuate existing differencesbetween the two tongues, but the peoples of the South American seaboardfeel the need of a common speech, and local conditions havestandardized many words. Hence, the Spanish language will serve allordinary purposes among the Latin races who have made their own thevast continent that stretches from Panama to Tierra del Fuego.

  So the girl's super-active brain was puzzled by De Sylva's rendering ofhis military friend's remarks. With the vaguest knowledge of what wasactually said, she suspected that San Benavides had opposed the veryproject which, according to the President, he favored. She had caughtthe name of the relief vessel, the words _bote_, "boat," _las doce_,"twelve o'clock," _a bordo de buque_, "on board the ship," and otherswhich did not figure in the translation. She wondered why.

  The long day wore slowly. The heat was intense. Even the hardenedsailors soon found that if the atmosphere of the cavern were to remainendurable they might not smoke. So pipes were extinguished, and theytried to better their condition. Water-soaked coats and boots placedin the sun were dry in a few minutes. Iris was persuaded to allow herdress to be treated in this manner. She was still wearing the heavyulster of the early morning--when the aftermath of the gale was chilland searching--and the possession of this outer wrap made easy thetemporary discarding of a skirt and blouse.

  Unhappily, she answered in French some simple query of the dapperofficer's. Thenceforth, to her great bewilderment and Hozier'smanifest annoyance, he pestered her with compliments and inquiries. Toavoid both, she expressed a longing for sleep. It seemed to herexcited imagination that she would never be able to sleep again, yether limbs were scarcely composed in comfort on a litter of coarse grassand parched seaweed than her eyes closed in the drowsiness of sheerexhaustion. This respite was altogether helpful. She had slept butlittle during the gale, and its tremendous climax had surprised hervitality at a low ebb.

  When she awoke, the ravine was in shadow and the interior of the cavewas dark. Her first conscious sensation was that of almost intolerablethirst. Her lips were blistered, her tongue and palate sore, and sheasked herself in alarm what new evil was afflicting her, until sheremembered the drenching she had received and the amount of salt-ladenair that had passed into her lungs. Nevertheless, she criedinvoluntarily for water, and again she was offered wine. She managedto smile in a strained fashion at this malicious humor of fortune. Bya freak of memory she called to mind the somewhat similar predicamentof the crew of a storm-tossed ship that she had once read about. Theyran short of water, but the vessel carried hundreds of cases of bottledstout. During three long weeks of boating against the wind thosewretched men were compelled to drink stout morning, noon, and night,and never did temperance argument apply with greater force to theseafaring community than toward the end of that enforced regimen ofmalt liquor.

  Hozier, who had aroused her by touching her shoulder, fancied he sawthe gleam of merriment in her face.

  "What is amusing you?" he asked.

  She told him, though she spoke with difficulty.

  "It is not quite so bad as that," he said. "If there is no hitch inour plans, we should be on the island within five hours. We haveeverything thought out as far as may be in view of the unknown. At anyrate, Miss Yorke, if we succeed in getting you safely ashore, youpersonally will have but slight cause for further anxiety. Theproposal is that Marcel shall take you at once to the hut of an oldconvict whom he can trust----"

  "A convict!" she gasped. The word was ominous, and she was hardlyawake.

  "The population of Fernando Noronha is almost entirely made of convictsand soldiers," he explained.

  "But am I to be left there alone?"

  "What else is there to be done? You cannot join in the attack on afort--and that offers our only chance, it would seem. Granted aneffective surprise, we may carry it. Then your guardian will bring youto us."

  "What if you fail?"
/>
  "We must not fail," he said quietly.

  "Please do not hide the alternative from me," she pleaded. "I haveendured so much----"

  "Well, don't you see, this man--who, by the way, is married, and has adaughter aged fourteen--will, if necessary, reveal your presence to theGovernor. By that time, say, in a day or two, the excitement will havedied down, the news of your escape will be cabled to England, you willbe sent to the coast on the Government steamer, and you can travel homeby the next mail."

  "That sounds very simple--and European," she said, and the patheticsarcasm was not lost on him.

  "It is reasonable enough. Unfortunately for us, all the bother centersround Senhor De Sylva, to whom we owe our lives. He is outside at themoment, showing our skipper the lay of the land before the light fails,so I am free to speak plainly. When he is dead there will be nofurther trouble, till the next revolution. But why endeavor to lookahead when seeing is impossible? At present, what really presses isthe necessity that you should eat and drink. We have shared out thewhole of the available food. Here is your portion. We deemed it bestto give the men one square meal. They know now that they must earn thenext one."

  With each instant her perceptive powers were quickening. She was awarethat he had deliberately avoided the main issue. De Sylva's probabledeath implied a good deal, but it was the supreme test of her couragethat she refrained from useless questioning. Yet she thrust aside thetwo bananas and supply of dried meat and crusts that Hozier placedbefore her.

  "I cannot eat," she murmured, striving to control her voice.

  "But you must. It is imperative. You would not wish to break down atthe very moment your best energies will be in demand. Our lives, aswell as your own, may depend on your strength. Come, Miss Yorke, nowoman could have been pluckier than you. Don't fail us now."

  The gloom was deepening momentarily. Hozier's back was turned to theentrance, and, in the ever-growing darkness, she was unable to see hisface; but his anxious protest in no wise deceived her; she even smiledagain at the ruse that attempted to saddle her with some measure ofresponsibility for the success or failure of the raid.

  "If I promise to eat--and drink this sour wine--will you be candid?"she asked.

  "Well----"

  "One must bargain. There is no other way. . . . Promise!"

  "I suppose you mean that I must agree to please you by wild guessingabout events that may turn out quite differently."

  "Candid, I said."

  "Yes--that most certainly."

  "In the first place, may we go into the fresh air? I must have sleptmany hours. What time is it?"

  "About seven o'clock."

  "Seven! Have I been lying here since goodness knows what time thismorning?"

  "You were thoroughly used up," he said, and he added, with a laugh: "Ifit is any consolation, I may tell you that, to the best of my belief,you never moved nor uttered a sound."

  "For instance, I didn't snore," she cried, rising to her feet, andthanking the kindly night that veiled her untidiness.

  "I--don't--think so."

  "Oh, please be more positive than that. You send a cold shiver down myback."

  "Several members of the _Andromeda's_ crew also indulged in a prolongedsiesta," he said. "I assure you it was almost out of the question todivide the sleepers into snorers and non-snorers."

  A man will talk harmless nonsense of that sort when he is at his wit'send to wriggle out of a perplexing situation. Hozier was deputed toobtain the girl's consent to the proposal he had already put beforeher. He feared that she would refuse compliance, for he understood herfine temper better than the others. He was a young man--one but littleversed in the ways of women--yet some instinct warned him that therewas a nobility in Iris Yorke's nature that might set self at naught andurge her to share her companions' lot, even though certain death werethe outcome.

  They passed together through the cavern. Watts, sound asleep, waslying there. The majority of the men were seated on the rocks without,or lounging near the entrance. They were smoking now freely, the onlystipulation being that matches were not to be struck in the open.Their whispered talk ceased when they saw the girl. Absorbed in theprospect of a fight for life, for the moment they had forgotten her,but a murmured tribute of sympathy and recognition greeted herappearance.

  The Irishman found his tongue first.

  "Begorrah, miss," he said, "but it's the proud man I'll be the nexttime I see you smilin' from the kay side at Liverpool, no matterwhether I'm there meself or not."

  No one laughed at the absurd phrase which so clearly expressed itsmeaning. But the ship's cook, Peter, noting the strips of dried meatin her hands, raised a grin by saying:

  "Sorry the galley fire is out, miss, or I'd 'ave stewed 'em a bit."

  This kindly badinage was gratifying, though it helped to reveal theinterrupted topic of their conversation. There was no hiding thedesperate character of the coming adventure. The _Andromeda's_ crewdid not attempt to minimize it. The choice offered lay only in themanner of their death. As to the prospect of ultimate escape, theyhardly gave it a thought. Some among them had served in the armies ofEurope, and they, at least, were under no delusion concerning the issueof an attack on a fort by less than a score of unarmed men--seventeento be exact, since two of the ship's company were so maimed by thebursting of the shell on the forecastle as to be practically helpless;it was by the rarest good fortune that they were able to walk.

  Iris smiled at them in her frank way.

  "I hope you will all be spared to ship on a new _Andromeda_," she said.No sooner had the words left her lips than the thought came unbidden:"If my uncle and Captain Coke wished the ship to be thrown away,nothing could have better suited their purposes than this tragic error."

  For the instant, the unforeseen outcome of that Sunday afternoon'splotting in the peaceful garden of Linden House held her imagination.She recalled each syllable of it, and there throbbed in her brain thehitherto undreamed of possibility that Coke had brought the _Andromeda_to Fernando Noronha in pursuance of his thievish project.

  At once she whispered to Hozier:

  "Is there anyone on the path below?"

  "No," he said. "The Brazilians are with Coke at the top of the gully."

  "Is it safe for us to go the other way."

  "I think so. But you must be careful not to slip."

  She caught his arm, little knowing the thrill her clasp sent throughhis frame. This simple gesture of her confidence was bitter-sweet. Heresolutely closed his eyes to the knowledge that this might be theirlast talk.

  "I shall not fall," she said. "I am a good mountaineer. I learnt thetrick of it in Cumberland. Come with me. There is a pleasant breezeblowing from the sea."

  They climbed down. Neither spoke until they stood on the curving ledgethat had proved their salvation. Though the tide was rising again, theheavy sea was gone. The current still created some spume and noise asit swept past the reef, but its anger had vanished with the gale.Beyond the fringe of broken water a slight swell only served to mirrorin countless facets the tender light of a perfect sunset. The easternhorizon was a broad line of silver. Nearer, the shadow of the islandcreated bands of purest green and ultramarine.

  They reached the place from which the Brazilians had thrown the rope.They could hear the quiet plash of the water in the cleft. Piledagainst a low-lying rock were the funnel and other debris of the_Andromeda_. The black hull was plainly visible beneath the surface.Even while they were looking at the wreck a huge fish curled his tenfeet of length with stealthy grace from out some dim recess; it mightbe, perhaps, from out the crushed shell of the chart-room.

  Hozier glanced at his companion. He half expected her to shrink backappalled at this sinister sight; it was her destiny to surprise him notonce but many times during that amazing period.

  "Is that a shark?" she asked quietly.

  "Yes. . . . You stipulated for candor, you know."

  "I had no
notion that such a monster could move with so great elegance.I think I would rather be eaten by a shark than lie at the bottom ofthe sea like our poor vessel there."

  "Even a shark would appreciate the compliment," he said.

  Her eyes continued to watch the terrifying apparition until it prowledinto hidden depths again.

  "I am not sorry I have seen it," she murmured. "It helps one tounderstand. We are glib concerning the laws of nature, and seem toregard them much as the printed regulations stuck on hackney carriages,whatsoever they may be. Yet, how cruelly just they are! I supposethat the finding of the ship's booty by that huge creature has given anew span of life to some weaker fish."

  Hozier did not know whether or not she had realized the shark's realquest. Her next words enlightened him.

  "If we follow the others, will the soldiers throw our dead bodies intothe sea?" she asked.

  "I want you to believe that you will be absolutely safe if we escapebeing discovered during the crossing of the narrow strip of water thatseparates this rock from the island," he hastened to say. "That isyour only risk, and it is a light one. Senhor De Sylva is sure thatthe troops will not keep the keenest lookout to-night. They are stillconvinced that the insurgent steamer is sunk. Our chief danger willdate from to-morrow's dawn. Marcel reports that a systematic search ofthe island was begun to-day. It will be continued to-morrow, but onnew lines, because, by that time, they will have learnt the truth. The_Andros-y-Mela_ is not lying in pieces at the foot of this rock, thePresident has not escaped, and every practicable inch of FernandoNoronha and the adjacent islands will be scoured in the hope of findinghim. At first sight, that looks like being in our favor; in reality,it means the end if we are discovered here. The soldiers will shootfirst and inquire afterwards. I have not the slightest doubt but thatplenty of evidence will be forthcoming that we were a set ofdesperadoes who had unlawfully interfered in the affairs of a foreignstate."

  She appeared to be weighing this argument, sitting in judgment on DeSylva and his theories.

  "I want to do that which is for the good of all," she said at length."Do you ask me to go to this convict's house, Mr. Hozier?"

  "I urge it on you with the utmost conviction. With you off our hands,we can act freely. We must deliver an attack to-night. God in Heaven,you cannot think that we would expose you to the perils of a desperatefight!"

  His sudden outburst was unexpected, even by himself. He trembled in anagony of passion. Iris placed a timid hand on his shoulder.

  "I will go," she whispered. "Please do not be distressed on myaccount. I will go. I brought you here, not to discuss my own fate,but yours. These Brazilians will not scruple to make use of you, andthen throw you aside if it suits their purpose. That man, De Sylva,does not care how he attains power, and I know that he and the officerentertain some plan which they have not revealed to you."

  "You . . . _know_."

  "Yes. I understand a little of their language. I have a mere glimpseof its sense, as one sees a landscape through a mist. When De Sylvatold you to-day that San Benavides was with you heart and soul, he waslying. There were things said about a ship, and midnight, and a boat.I watched the officer's face. He was wholly opposed to the landingto-night. My mind is not so vague now. I think I can grasp hismeaning. Was it not to-night that the _Andros-y-Mela_ was to appear?"

  "Yes."

  "Well, may they not hope secretly that she will keep to the fixed hour?Once you and I and the others are on the island, and an alarm is given,the Brazilians could slip away unnoticed. Yes, that is it. I do nottrust them any more than I trusted Captain Coke. Don't you realizethat he brought the _Andromeda_ to this place in order to wreck hermore easily? It was to supply a pretext for the visit that he madeundrinkable the water in the ship's tanks."

  That appealing hand still rested on Philip's shoulder. Its touchaffected him profoundly. With a lightning dart of memory his thoughtswent back to the moment when she lay, inert and half-fainting, in hisarms on the bridge, after he had taken her from the lazarette. But hecontrolled his voice sufficiently to say:

  "You may be right; indeed, I know you are right, so far as Coke isconcerned. When I went aft to find out if one of the boats could notbe cleared, I noticed that a steering-gear box had been prised openagain. I had time for only a second's glance, but I was sure thedamage had not been done by a bullet. So the _Andromeda_ was doomed tobe lost, no matter what happened. By ----, forgive me, Miss Yorke, butthis kind of thing makes one savage."

  "Perhaps it is matterless now. Coke will stand by the rest of us inour struggle for life, at any rate. But the Brazilians----"

  "Have no fear of them. I, too, have watched San Benavides. I don'tlike the fellow, and wouldn't place an ounce of faith in him, but DeSylva has brains, and he knows well enough that no ship from Brazilwill come to Fernando Noronha in his behalf. In fact, he dreads avisit by a Government vessel, in which event our frail chance ofseizing that launch----"

  She felt, rather than saw, that he had suddenly grown rigid. His rightarm flew out and drew her to him.

  "Sh-s-s-h!" he breathed, and pulled her behind a rock. Her woman'sheart yielded to dread of the unseen. It pulsed violently, and she wastempted to scream. Despite his warning, she must at least havewhispered a question, but her ears caught a sound to which they werenow well accustomed. The light chug-chug of an engine and the flappingof a propeller came up to them from the sea. The steam launch wasapproaching. Perhaps they had been seen already! As if to emphasizethis new peril, there was an interval of silence. Steam had been shutoff. Philip touched the girl's lips lightly with a finger. Then helay flat on the ledge and began to creep forward. It was impossiblethat he should run and warn the others, but it was essential, above allelse, that he should ascertain what the men on the launch were doing,and the extent of their knowledge.

  He found a tuft of the grass that clung to a crevice where its rootsdrew hardy sustenance from the crumbling rock; he ventured to thrusthis head through this screen, following Domingo's example some hoursearlier. Almost directly beneath, his eager glance found the littlevessel. She was floating past with the current. He peered down on toher deck as if from the top of a mast. A few cigarette-smokingofficers were grouped in her bows. Apparently, they were moreinterested in the remains of the _Andromeda_ than in the naturalfortress overhead. Clustered round the hatch were some twentysoldiers, also smoking.

  One of the officers pointed to the ledge; he was excited and emphatic.Philip could not imagine that they had detected him, but he feared lestIris, in her agitation, might have moved. In that clear, calm air, noteven the growing dusk would hide the flutter of a skirt or the alteredposition of a white face. A man in charge of the wheel replied to theofficer with a laugh. The first speaker turned, glanced at theBrothers reef, behind which the _Andromeda's_ boat had vanished thatmorning, and nodded dubiously. The man at the wheel growled an order,and the engine started again. Though Hozier knew not what was said,the significance of this pantomime was not lost on him. The localpilot was afraid of these treacherous waters in the dark, but next dayFrade de Francez (which is the islanders' name for the Grand-pere Rock)would surely be explored if a landing could be made. At a guess, thesilent watcher took it that the steersman had declined to make acircuit of the rock until the light was good.

  Away bustled the launch, but Hozier did not move until there was norisk of his figure being silhouetted against the sky. Even then, hewormed his way backward with slow caution. Iris was crouched where hehad left her, wide-eyed, motionless.

  "Good job we came here," he said. "It is evident they mean to maintaina patrol until there is news of De Sylva one way or the other. It willbe interesting now to hear what the gallant San Benavides says. If anyship comes to Fernando Noronha to-night she will be seen from theisland long before any signal is visible at this point."

  "Do you think the others saw the launch?" she asked.

  "No--not unless some of th
e men strayed down the gully, which they weretold not to do. The breakers would drown the noise of the engines andscrew."

  There was a slight pause.

  "Will you tell them?" she went on.

  "Why not?"

  This time the pause was more eloquent than words. Quite unconsciously,Iris replied to her own question.

  "Of course, as you said a little while ago, we owe our lives to DomCorria De Sylva," she murmured, as if she were reasoning with herself.

  By chance, probably because Hozier stooped to help her to her feet, hisarm rested lightly across her shoulders.

  "I will not pretend to misunderstand you," he said. "If the Braziliansdo not mean to play the game, it would be a just punishment to let themrush on their own doom. But De Sylva may not agree with this fop of anofficer, and, in any event, we must go straight with him until he showshis teeth."

  "You seem to dislike Captain San Benavides," she said inconsequently.

  "I regard him as a brainless ass," he exclaimed.

  "Somehow, that sounds like a description of a dead donkey, which onenever sees."

  "Mademoiselle!" came a voice from the lip of the ravine.

  "One can hear him, though," laughed Hozier, with a warning pressurethat suspiciously resembled a hug. These two were children, in somerespects, quicker to jest than to grieve, better fitted for mirth thantragedy.

  They moved out from their niche, and San Benavides blustered intovehement French.

  "We are going to the landing-place before it is too dark," he mutteredangrily. "We must not show a light; in a few minutes the path will bemost dangerous. Please make haste, mademoiselle. We did not knowwhere you had gone."

  "The men knew," suggested Hozier in the girl's ear. He dared not trusteither his temper or his vocabulary.

  "We shall lose no time, now, monsieur," said Iris, hurrying on.

  "This way then. No, we do not pass the cave. We go right round thecliff. Permit me, mademoiselle. I am acquainted with each step."

  He took her hand. Philip followed. He was young enough to long for anopportunity to tell San Benavides that he was a puppy, a mongrel puppy.Just then he would have given a gun-metal case, filled with cigars--theonly treasure he possessed--for a Portuguese dictionary.

  After a really difficult and hazardous descent, they found the othersawaiting them in a rock-shrouded cove. The barest standing-room wasafforded by a patch of shingle and detritus. Alongside a flat stonelay three broad planks tied together with cowhide. The center plankwas turned up at one end. This was the catamaran, which de Sylva haddignified by the name of boat. The primitive craft rested in a blackpool in which the stars trembled, though they were hardly visible asyet in the brighter sky. The water murmured in response to themovement of the tide, but to the unaided eye there was no vestige of apassage through the volcanic barrier that reared itself on every hand.

  "Were 'ave you bin?" growled Coke. "We've lost a good ten minnits.You ought to 'ave known, Hozier, that it's darkest just after sunset."

  "We could not have started sooner, sir."

  "W'y not? We were kep' waitin' up there, searchin' for you."

  "That was our best slice of luck to-day. Had any of you appeared onthe ledge you would have been seen from the launch."

  "Wot launch?"

  "The launch that visited us this morning. Ten minutes ago she wasstanding by at the foot of the rock."

  Philip spoke slowly and clearly. He meant his news to strike home. Ashe anticipated, De Sylva broke in.

  "You _saw_ it?" he asked, and his deep voice vibrated with dismay.

  "Yes. I even made out, by actions rather than words, that the darknessalone prevented the soldiers from coming here to-night. The skipperwould not risk it."

  De Sylva said something under his breath. He spoke rapidly to SanBenavides, and the latter seemed to be cowed, for his reply was brief.Then the ex-President reverted to English.

  "I have decided to send Marcel and Domingo ashore first," he said."They will select the safest place for a landing. Marcel will bringback the catamaran, and take off Mr. Hozier and the young lady.Captain Coke and I will follow, and the others in such order as SenhorBenavides thinks fit. The catamaran will only hold three with safety,but Marcel believes he can find another for Domingo. Remember, all ofyou, silence is essential. If there is an accident, some of us may becalled on to drown without a cry. We must be ready to do it for thesake of those who are left. Are we all agreed?"

  A hum of voices answered him. De Sylva was, at least, a born leader.