CHAPTER VIII

AN INTERVIEW IN THE CAPTAIN'S CABIN


"Our log-book indicates that we passed a steamer to the northward of us at
four bells in the mid-watch," said Captain Ringgold, when Dr. Ferrolan
finished his narrative. "She was headed about west by south; and very
likely it was the one which ran into the Travancore, for no other was
reported."

"She was a vessel of about four hundred tons," added the viscount. "I was
in the pilot-house at the time, though the weather was so thick that I
could hardly make her out as she slipped off from our starboard bow, and
went on her course."

"Didn't she hail you, and offer to stand by you?"
inquired the commander.

"I heard something like a shout coming from her, and in a moment she was
beyond hailing-distance. I supposed we were going to the bottom in a few
minutes, and had my hands full, so that I had no time to look out for her,
though I supposed she would come about and render assistance; but we did
not hear from her again."

"It is possible that she did so, and was unable to find you, for it was
very dark, and the sea was very rough," suggested the commander. "But her
conduct looks heathenish, and I will warrant that she was not an English
steamer; for the British tars never pass by their fellow-beings on the