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“It was now beginning to grow dark, and as nobody seemed to think about supper, I went below to look into that matter. It wouldn’t do for Miss Minturn. and her father to go without their regular meal, for that would be sure to scare them to death; and if I’m to have a big scare I like to take it on a good square meal, so I went below to see about it. But I wasn’t needed, for Miss Minturn’s maid, who was an elderly woman, and pretty sharp set in her temper, was in the cook’s galley superintending supper for her people, and after she got through I superintended some for myself.

“After that I felt a good deal bolder, and I lighted a pipe and went on deck. There I found the whole ship’s company, officers and crew, none of them doing anything, and most of them clustered together in little groups, whispering or grunting.

“I went up to the captain and asked him what he was going to do next. ‘Do?’ said he; ‘there is nothing to do; I’ve done everything that I can do. I’m all upset; I don’t know whether I am myself or some other man’; and then he walked away.

“I sat there and smoked and looked at them, and I can tell you the sight wasn’t cheerful. There was the ship, just as good and sound, as far as anybody could see, as anything that floated on the ocean, and here were all her people, shivering and shaking and not speaking above their breath, looking for all the world, under the light of the stars and the ship’s lamps, which some of them had had sense enough to light, as if they expected in the course of the next half-hour, to be made to walk the plank; and, to tell the truth, what they were afraid of would come to pretty much the same thing.”

“Mr. Cardly,” here interrupted Mr. Harberry, “how long does it take to count a million?”

“That depends,” said the school-master, “on the rapidity of the calculator; some calculators count faster than others. An ordinary boy, counting two hundred a minute, would require nearly three days and a half to count a million.”

“Very good,” said Mr. Harberry; “please go on with your story, sir.”

“Of course,” said the marine, “there is a great difference between a boy and a Water-devil, and it is impossible for anybody to know how fast the latter can count, especially as he may be supposed to be used to it. Well, I couldn’t stand it any longer on deck, and having nothing else to do, I turned in and went to sleep.”

“To sleep! Went to sleep!” exclaimed Mrs. Fryker. “I don’t see how you could have done that.”

“Ah, madam,” said the marine, “we soldiers of the sea are exposed to all sorts of dangers,–combination dangers, you might call them,–and in the course of time we get used to it; if we didn’t we couldn’t do our duty.

“As the ship had been in its present predicament for six or seven hours, and nothing had happened, there was no reason to suppose that things would not remain as they were for six or seven hours more, in which time I might get a good sleep, and be better prepared for what might come. There’s nothing like a good meal and a good sleep as a preparation for danger.

“It was daylight when I awakened, and rapidly glancing about me, I saw that everything appeared to be all right. Looking out of the port-hole, I could see that the vessel was still motionless. I hurried on deck, and was greatly surprised to find nobody there–no one on watch, no one at the wheel, no one anywhere. I ran down into the fo’castle, which is the sailors’ quarters, but not a soul could I see. I called, I whistled, I searched everywhere, but no one answered; I could find no one. Then I dashed up on deck, and glared, around me. Every boat was gone.