In Search of El Dorado | Page 6

as other people's, and we've a right to save 'em if we can."
Dick saw that a crisis was imminent and that unless he acted with decision the people on the deck below would very quickly get out of hand. Luckily for him, the steward whom he had dispatched for his revolvers at this moment appeared, thrust the weapons into his hand, and dashed off again without saying a word. The youngster was reluctant to display the weapons, for he was by no means sure that the sight of them would produce the desired effect. Yet there seemed to be no alternative, for the little band of men below--some eight or ten in number--were evidently determined to force the passage of the ladder. He therefore pointed both weapons straight at the group as he shouted:
"Halt there, you men! If you dare to move another step, I'll shoot. What do you mean by your outrageous conduct, pushing and hustling your way violently through a crowd of helpless women and children in that brutal fashion? You wouldn't do it if any of them belonged to you, and I am surprised that the husbands and fathers put up with it. Call yourselves Englishmen? Pah! I'm ashamed of you. You make me sick!"
Dick's appeal to the husbands and fathers of those whom the gang had been hustling so roughly was a happy inspiration, and produced an immediate effect, the said husbands and fathers at once raising their voices in remonstrance, while the women also joined in, with the result that a heated altercation quickly ensued which threatened to speedily develop into a free fight. But that was only a shade less desirable than the other, wherefore, slipping his revolvers into his pockets, Dick intervened.
"Now then, below there, none of that!" he shouted. "I'll allow no fighting. The first man who strikes a blow shall be clapped in irons. And just listen to me a moment, if you please," he continued, as the faces below turned again toward him. "Will one of you men who seem so extraordinarily anxious to come up here kindly explain why you want to come?"
For a moment there was dead silence among the crowd, then the burly man whom Dick had struck, and who had retired crestfallen to the foot of the ladder, looked up and replied:
"The ship's sinking--you can't deny it--and our lives are worth just as much as other people's. We want to have a fair chance of saving 'em, and--"
"Stop a moment," interrupted Dick, thinking he saw a chance to create a diversion and avert the inevitable rush for a few minutes. "You say that the ship is sinking and that you want to save your lives by taking to the boats. Have you all taken the precaution to put your money and other valuables in your pockets? And have you all seen to it that you are dressed in your warmest clothes? You know," he continued, banteringly, "if you were at this moment called to get into the boats, you would be very sorry when you afterwards remembered that in your hurry you had left all your valuables behind you. And boating in this weather is a most unpleasantly cold business, I assure you."
A rather lengthy silence followed this speech of Dick's. Those whom he had addressed were thinking very seriously about what he had said touching money and valuables. Probably not one of them had dreamed of adopting the precautionary measures suggested, and many of them were painfully conscious at that moment that every penny they possessed was locked up in the trunks in their cabins. Several of them began to move hesitatingly towards the deck-house entrance. Then a man who was leading the way, suddenly halted and shouted--
"Look here, mister. Tell us the plain truth, as man to man. Is this ship going to sink, or isn't she? That's all that we want to know."
The question set Dick's mind working at lightning speed. Should he or should he not deny the dreadful truth? He felt that he could not unreservedly deny it, yet, on the other hand, unreservedly to admit it might precipitate a panic. He quickly decided that the proper thing to do would be to prepare those people for the inevitable, but to do so in such a fashion as to reassure them to the utmost possible extent. Therefore he answered:
"As man to man I tell you that we hope to take this ship safely into New York harbour. But I will not attempt to conceal from you the fact that she has sustained a certain amount of damage from her collision with a mass of ice and she is leaking a bit--stop! Don't run away until I have told you everything," he continued, as he saw the listening crowd below bracing itself