to take twenty-five to one that we'd been sold. I wouldn't mind laying
twenty-five to one now that what we are in search of is somewhere on
board this steamer. If that is so, the _Blucher_ will never dare to
sink you, because there will still remain the chance of the person on
board who is in charge of the documents getting away with them at the
other end, whereas down at the bottom of the Atlantic they would be of
no use to any one."

"I see your point of view," the other agreed.

"Then you'd better take my tip," Crawshay continued. "There isn't a
passenger on board who didn't know the risk they were running when
they started, and I'm sure no one will blame you for not surrendering
your ship like a dummy directly you're asked. They're a pretty
sporting lot in the saloon, you know. All those newspaper men are real
good fellows."

The captain's face brightened.

"Next to fighting her," he soliloquised, stroking his beard,--

"The idea of fighting her is ridiculous," Crawshay interrupted. "Look
here, you haven't any time to lose. Send to the engineer and let him
give it to them straight down below. I'll give a tenner apiece to the
stokers, if we get clear, and if my advice turns out wrong, I'll see
you through it, anyway."

"We can leg it at a trifle over nineteen knots," Captain Jones
declared, as he picked up his cap, "and, anyway, anything's better
than having one of those short-haired, smooth-tongued, blustering