moment, distressed me most was that the lovely lady would consider me a knave or a fool. The thought made me exclaim with exasperation. Had it been possible to abandon Kinney, I would have dropped overboard and made for shore. The night was warm and foggy, and the short journey to land, to one who had been brought up like a duck, meant nothing more than a wetting. But I did not see how I could desert Kinney.     

       “Can you swim?” I asked     

       “Of course not!” he answered gloomily; “and, besides,” he added, “our names are on our suitcases. We couldn’t take them with us, and they’d find out who we are. If we could only steal a boat!” he exclaimed eagerly—“one of those on the davits,” he urged—“we could put our suitcases in it and then, after every one is asleep, we could lower it into the water.”      

       The smallest boat on board was certified to hold twenty-five persons, and without waking the entire ship’s company we could as easily have moved the chart-room. This I pointed out.     

       “Don’t make objections!” Kinney cried petulantly. He was rapidly recovering his spirits. The imminence of danger seemed to inspire him.     

       “Think!” he commanded. “Think of some way by which we can get off this boat before she reaches New Bedford. We MUST! We must not be arrested! It would be too awful!” He interrupted himself with an excited exclamation.     

       “I have it!” he whispered hoarsely: “I will ring in the fire-alarm! The crew will run to quarters. The boats will be lowered. We will cut one of them adrift. In the confusion—”      

       What was to happen in the confusion that his imagination had conjured up,       I was not to know. For what actually happened was so confused that of nothing am I quite certain. First, from the water of the Sound, that was lapping pleasantly against the side, I heard the voice of a man raised in terror. Then came a rush of feet, oaths, and yells; then a shock that threw us to our knees, and a crunching, ripping, and tearing roar like that made by the roof of a burning building when it plunges to the cellar.     

       And the next instant a large bowsprit entered our cabin window. There was left me just space enough to wrench the door open, and grabbing Kinney, who was still on 

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