Galvanized into action by these cheering words, Captain Senby cleared his throat, then roared in a fog-horn voice:
"All hands stand by to abandon ship! Be lively, please, ladies. No man stir over the side until the last woman has gone over!"
Some of the Red Cross women smilingly obeyed the order; others hung back.
"There are still some wounded men on board," pleaded one of them. "Let the last wounded man go over the side, then we'll go."
"I'll kill any man on this deck who tries to go over until the last woman is taken care of!" shouted Senby, drawing a revolver.
Some of the nurses still demurred, but the master was obdurate.
"Ladies," he called out, "this craft can't keep afloat much longer. Those of you who hang back keep the men from their last chance to get away. I tell you, and I mean it, that no man stirs over the side until the last woman is on her way to a boat. Don't hold us all back, ladies!"
That swept aside the last reluctance of the nurses. They trooped forward, to one side gangway or the other, and were quickly on their way into the waiting boats.
One of them, however, drew back, then smiled and crossed the deck.
"I shall remain with you, Dave," announced a clear, firm voice, and Dave turned to find Belle's steady hand resting on his arm.