Clarinda, Frisco to Yokohama with dynamite. We disabled our

rudder yesterday, an' this afternoon fire started in the hold.

It's makin' headway fast now, an'll reach the dynamite most

any time. You'd better take us aboard, an' get away from

here as quick as you can. 'Tain't safe nowhere within five

hun'erd fathom of her."

"You'd better make haste, Captain, hadn't you?" suggested

Mr. Harding.

"I don't like the looks of things, sir," replied that officer.

"She ain't flyin' any dynamite flag, an' if she was an' had a

hold full there wouldn't be any particular danger to us, an'

anyone that has ever shipped dynamite would know it, or

ought to. It's not fire that detonates dynamite, it's concussion.

No sir, Mr. Harding, there's something queer here--I don't

like the looks of it. Why just take a good look at the faces of

those men. Did you ever see such an ugly-looking pack of

unhung murderers in your life, sir?"

"I must admit that they're not an overly prepossessing

crowd, Norris," replied Mr. Harding. "But it's not always

either fair or safe to judge strangers entirely by appearances.

I'm afraid that there's nothing else for it in the name of

common humanity than to take them aboard, Norris. I'm sure

your fears are entirely groundless."

"Then it's your orders, sir, to take them aboard?" asked

Captain Norris.

"Yes, Captain, I think you'd better," said Mr. Harding.

"Very good, sir," replied the officer, turning to give the

necessary commands.

The officers and men of the Halfmoon swarmed up the sides

of the Lotus, dark-visaged, fierce, and forbidding.

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