"The captain now sent every man to the boats--
those that would float--and we began to get the passengers
and crew together--about sixty, all told.
That's pretty nasty business at any time. They're
like a flock of sheep, huddlin' together, some wantin'
to stay and some crazy to go; or they are shiverin'
with fright and ready to knife each other--anything
to get ahead or back or wherever they think it is
safest. This time most of 'em had got on to the
explosives; they knew something was up, either with
the boilers or the cargo, and every one of them
expected to be blown up any minute.

"I stood by the rail, of course, and had told off
the men I could trust, puttin' 'em in two lines to let
'em through one at a time, women first, then the old
men, and so on--same old story; you've seen it, no
doubt--and had got four boats overboard and filled
--the sea was pretty calm--and three of 'em away
and out of range of fallin' pieces if she did take a
notion to let go suddenly, when the dog sprang out
of the door at the top of the stairs leading down to
the main deck, barkin' like mad, runnin' up to the
captain, who stood just behind me, pullin' at his
trousers, and runnin' back again. Then a yell came
from the boat below that one of the old women was
missing: it was her sister. One half-crazy man said
she'd jumped overboard--he was crowdin' up to the
rail and didn't want to stop for anything--and
another said she had gone off in the first boat, which