possible without losing the ship in the doing of it. Only

between waves was the entrance to the main cabins negotiable,

while the forecastle hatch had been abandoned entirely after it

had with difficulty been replaced following the retreat of three

of the crew to that part of the ship.

The mucker stood beside Theriere as the latter beat back

the men when the seas threatened. It was the man's first

experience of the kind. Never had he faced death in the

courage-blighting form which the grim harvester assumes when

he calls unbridled Nature to do his ghastly bidding. The

mucker saw the rough, brawling bullies of the forecastle

reduced to white-faced, gibbering cowards, clawing and fighting

to climb over one another toward the lesser danger of the

cabins, while the mate fought them off, except as he found it

expedient to let them pass him; he alone cool and fearless.

Byrne stood as one apart from the dangers and hysteric

strivings of his fellows. Once when Theriere happened to glance

in his direction the Frenchman mentally ascribed the mucker's

seeming lethargy to the paralysis of abject cowardice. "The

fellow is in a blue funk," thought the second mate; "I did not

misjudge him--like all his kind he is a coward at heart."

Then a great wave came, following unexpectedly close upon

the heels of a lesser one. It took Theriere off his guard, threw

him down and hurtled him roughly across the deck, landing

him in the scuppers, bleeding and stunned. The next wave

would carry him overboard.

Released from surveillance the balance of the crew pushed

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