Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-31
GLORY q:
By BERT RICHARD WETJEN

! captain and then waited until the
chief looked at him. lie spoke evenly;
| There's inches over the plates
| sir; We've got the pumps going. The
second says he can hold the water
down to about inches an hour, SO far
as he can tell"
The chief nodded. "I'll be down in
a minute" The junior went away,
closing the door softly behind him.
The captain waited. fumbling With
the lower button of his jacket.
-Four hours" repeated the chief at
last He was frowning. ''Of course,
we shall do our best"
The captain answered. ''Of course.
It's in your hands, Treevillian." He
smiled thinly. "Water-tight compart-
mentS are not much good when most
of the bottoms gone"
NO sir" agreed the chief. That S
So They parted without further
! words. the one to his bridge. the other
to his engines. The wind moaned
from the northwest. The sea rose
surely and tremendously. Spray com
menced to break over the Calvanian s
lower decks. A mist seemed to creep
over the face of the sinking sun, but
there was still no panic. A calm man
in command saw to that. Capt. Ram
say was justifying the -four gold bands
on his sleeve.
They brought the watches below
from the focsle. They sent all the
trimmers into the hot gloom of the
bunllers so that coal Streamed steadily
on to the water-covered plates before
the fires. The clanG of shovels and
the choking rasp of the slices grew
in volume. The chief steward sent
down a Jar of rum. The steam pres
sure rose in the gauges. The pistonS
plunged and reared round a I inCrea Sing
speed. The sweat Streamed from the
naked chests of the tiremen and the
water rose inch by inch round their
ankles for all the sobbinS pumps could
DO.
IN the first-class lounge the band
played. and the purser kept "a
smiling face. There was no danger.
Emphatically, there was no danger.
Some of the men knew: a brigadier
general, bound on diplomatic mis-
sion; a famous journalist who had
been on sinking ship before; a re-
tired sea captain, who surreptitiously
stuffed in his pocket a patent rubber
life belt that could be quickly in
tiated. But the women did not know
At first they rather regarded the mat
ter as Il joke. something to talk about
The ship had to be beaChed. The
coast was very near. Veil. That was
adventure. On the second ella SIS
decks matters were much the same
way. But down in the third class
there was no band. and the purSer
hadn't time to waste on such people
as existed there.
True. order was maintained. But
there were two masters at arms with
truncheons and several stewards who
cursed their luck and IA Junior third
officer who commanded instead of
persuaded. OF course. the paSSen-
gers above did not know that. Nor
did they know that the third class
could hear water gurglinC and rush
ing below their feet through torn and
twisted plates. There is even class
distinction right up to the gates of
Death.
ON the bridge Capt. Ramsay paced
slowly to and fro. Officers watched
from every corner. QuartermaSterS
stood by waiting for orders. The sea-
men were along the boat deck max
ing all ready for lowering, in case
But the captain knew that was
fallacy. And the Junior officers and
the seamen. looking to Windward and
oversize at the swells. knew it was
fallacy, too. The Calvanian must be
beached or there would be another
disaster to go on record in the annals
of the SEA.