"No, sir. There was a blaze in your room, and I'm afraid they had to throw all your things overboard. But the purser says he can rig you out in the morning; and we have another room ready for you."
"Then I vill gum down," said Mr. Neilsen. And he did so. His bare feet paddled after the steward on the cold wet deck. At the companionway they met the shadowy figure of the captain.
"I'm afraid you've 'ad an unpleasant upset, Mr. Neilsen," he said.
"Onbleasant! It vos derrible! Derrible! But you see, captain, I vas correct. And this is only the beginning, aggording to my information. I hope now you vill take every bre-caution."
"They must have mistaken us for a British ship, Mr. Neilsen, I'm afraid. I'm having the ship lighted up so that they can't mistake us again. You see? I've got a searchlight playing on the Argentine flag aloft; and we've got the name of the ship in illuminated letters three feet high, all along the hull. They could read it ten miles away. Come and look!"
Mr. Neilsen looked with deepening horror.
"But dis is madness!" he gurgled. "The Hispaniola is marked, I tell you, marked, for gomplete destruction!"
The captain shook his head with a smile of skepticism that withered Mr. Neilsen's last hope.
"Very vell, then I should brefer an inside cabin this time."
"Yes. You don't get so much fresh air, of course; but I think it's better on the 'ole. If we're torpedoed we shall all go down together. But you're safer from gunfire in an inside room."