and Stevens the carpenter, with his assistants from the crew, were busy for
an hour making the change.

When the commander visited the music-room, he was unable to answer any of
the questions of his passengers as to the details of the wreck of the
Travancore, though he gave the names and quality of the three gentlemen who
had been invited to go below. The sleepers in the cabin had been aroused by
the erratic movements of the steamer before daylight, especially by the
change from rolling to pitching. There was a thundering roar of escaping
steam at times, and all of them had "turned out" to ascertain the cause of
the commotion. Felix and Morris had been the first to go on deck, and they
had informed the others of the nature of the event which had caused the
commotion on board.

The regular passengers had seen the strangers as they came down to the
promenade deck from the cutters. They were naturally filled with curiosity
to ascertain who and what the trio were. One was a lord, another a sir, and
the third a surgeon; and this was all that was known to any one.

"Have we really a live lord on board, Felix?" asked Mrs. Blossom, as they
were waiting for breakfast in the music-room.

"He is not a dead one, sure," replied the Milesian, "though he would soon
have been a very dead one if we had not happened along when we did."

"One of them was a colored man," added the good lady.

"Sir Modava Rao!" exclaimed Felix. "He is not more than a shade darker than
you are, Aunty; and he is a great man in the country we visit next. But dry
up; the captain is going to say something."