CHAPTER VIII
THE SEALED UP CABIN
"Man overboard!"
The cry rang through the ship--as cries of that sort do--first utteredby the man who witnessed the happening, and then passed from mouth tomouth.
As a matter of fact it was a girl--a child--who had fallen overboard,and the nurse was standing with blanched face and clasped hands,watching what looked like a bundle of clothing on the surface of theocean, which bundle the vessel was now rapidly leaving astern.
Then another cry rang out. It was literally as well as vocally a manoverboard this time--a real man.
For such a title is surely due to one who plunges from a liner's deckinto the sea to save another's life.
The gongs were ringing in the engine-room before the man touched thewater, but a liner traveling at the rate of twenty knots an hour has away on her.
"Full speed astern" showed on the indicator, and then careful handlingof the vessel became necessary. Almost directly she stopped.
As she stopped, the boat which had been hanging from the outspreaddavits with a crew in her was rapidly lowered, and once in the water,vigorously rowed in the direction pointed out by the standing coxswain.
Rescuer and rescued were promptly hauled into the boat, and carried tothe waiting ship, neither of them much the worse for their ducking.
The girl was seized by her mother and nurse, and speedily carried off totheir own private cabin.
The rescuer--Gerald Danvers, a second-class passenger--at his ownrequest went down the stoke hole.
Brave enough to dive into the sea, he yet had a dreadful fear ofrheumatism, to which he was subject; hence his desire for the warmth ofthe stoke hole.
A drink of brandy and willing hands to rub him down and the warmth ofthe stoke hole soon made him himself.
He had at hand only the clothes he stood upright in; the rest of hiswardrobe, packed in a portmanteau, was in the hold.
The usual custom was departed from, and a man despatched to try to findhis portmanteau--a brown one with his initials "G. D." on it.
"Don't bring it down here, old chap," said Danvers to the man who hadvolunteered to fetch it. "Here are my keys. There are only clothes init. Just bring me underflannels and shirt, that's all. I can wait whilethese trousers dry."
He had thrown off coat and vest and boots before he had dived.
The things were brought him, and he sat talking to the men while histrousers dried, as they very quickly did in such an atmosphere, andbefore long he was on deck again.
He would probably have been made to pose as a hero--for a shipload ofpassengers needs something to occupy its attention--but another morestartling sensation came about.
The mere saving of a life sank into insignificance before the loss ofone.
The sea was not rough, and very few passengers were in their berths.Nearly all of them sat down to the meals prepared for them.
Before dinner, the steward went over his list, and found that theoccupants of one of the two berthed cabins had not figured at breakfastor luncheon.
He went to the door of the cabin, and rapped with hisknuckles--twice--thrice. Getting no answer, he turned the handle andpushed open the door.
One berth was empty; in the other the occupant was apparently asleep.
"Don't you feel well, sir?"
No answer. Question repeated. Same result.
Then the steward drew aside the curtains, and was transformed into thewhitest faced being aboard that ship. For what he saw was a man lyingthere with his throat cut.
To bound out of that cabin and fetch the doctor and captain was the workof a few moments.
"Suicide."
One word the steward had let drop, and it spread all over the ship likewildfire.
But the doctor shook his head at the suggestion the moment he saw thebody.
"What is it?" inquired the captain; "don't you think it suicide?"
"No," answered the doctor laconically; "murder."
"Murder!"
"Yes."
"Who occupied the other berth? Where is he? Find him. What? went ashoreat Queenstown--don't know whether he came back on tender? Who receivedthe mails? Tell him to come here."
The officer sent for came.
It was in his watch that the tender departed and returned. Had noticed ared-haired man who had come aboard at Liverpool.
"Passenger of this berth was red-haired," interjected the steward.
"Go on," said the captain; "did you see the man come back on the tender?Is he aboard?"
The officer scratched his head and replied:
"Come to think of it, sir, I don't remember that he did come back."
"Are you sure?"
"Well, yes, I am, sir. It was very early morning when we touched, and Inoted that only one passenger went on the tender."
"Sure it was the occupant of this berth?"
"Must have been, sir," interrupted the steward, "because when I rappedfor letters and telegrams the red-haired man asked whether he could goashore, and how long he could stop."
"And you----?"
"Told him, sir. I didn't actually see him go, but he was alreadydressed."
The captain turned to the officer who had received the mails.
"Are you sure the man did not come back on the tender?"
"Yes, sir. Certain, now I come to remember."
"He has escaped, then," said the captain. Then, looking at his watch, hecontinued: "We are nearly twelve hours out from Queenstown. I shall notput back."
"Gives the murderer a good opportunity of escape, doesn't it?" queriedthe doctor.
"Yes, yes; I know. But we should be more than a dozen hours getting backwith this wind, and the ship would be detained. No, I'll go on. Let theAmerican police investigate it."
"Information ought to be furnished as promptly as possible," said thedoctor dubiously.
"That's all very well for you, doctor; but what would they say to me ascaptain of the ship? We will draw up a full report. Just write down asdetailed a description of the escaped man as you can, steward. Bryer,run up to the bridge, and tell the mate to steer for any vessel comingin, and fly a flag that we want to communicate. We'll send thedescription back. That's the best way out of the difficulty, doctor."
It was not the doctor's duty to dispute the captain's authority.
He may have had his own opinion as to what should be done, but heforbore from expressing it. He had his thoughts, and he had his livingto get.
The latter fact often prevents a man's thoughts finding their way to hislips. This is an age of discretion--it often pays better than merevalor.
"Been dead over a dozen hours," he said, after examining the body.
"That seems to confirm the idea of murder and escape at Queenstown."
"Better leave all things as they are for the police to examine, eh?"
"Yes."
Disinfectants were put in the cabin, and the door locked.
At the suggestion of the doctor, the captain affixed seals to a piece oftape fastened to the door and its lintel. The ship steamed on.
Ocean bore a secret on her billowy bosom--it was but one added to themyriads buried in her fathomless depths.