"Another thing I must tell you. As I went down the ladder--the
ship's bows already beginning to dip steeply--I had a sense of being
in no _time_ at all, but in eternity. There around us, spread and
placid, stretched the emptiest waste of the Pacific, with God's sun
deserting the sky above it, sinking almost as fast as the ship was
sinking.
"Santa had wrapped her mantilla over her head. She went down the
ladder before me, following Farrell. Our boat was white-painted on
thwarts and stern-sheets. . . . I was keeping my foothold with
difficulty, loaded with a water-breaker. . . . A man took it from
me, all in silence. I gripped Farrell's hand and hoiked him on
board. There was a great silence hanging, as it seemed, about those
last moments.
"We pushed off a little way. The third and last boat was lowered
down, and we saw the last half-dozen, with the captain at their
heels, tumbling down in a stampede.
"The _Eurotas_ took her plunge just as we heard them unhook from the
davit-blocks."
NIGHT THE SIXTEENTH.
CAPTAIN MACNAUGHTEN.
(Foe's Narrative Continued.
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