"Are you going over the side, madam?" inquired Captain Senby, pleadingly.
"You must make an exception in my case, sir," Belle Darrin answered smilingly. "I can hardly be expected to leave my husband at a time like this."
"Oh!" gasped the Briton, understandingly. "Madam, you make me anxious, but your devotion makes me proud of your sex!"
"Men, now!" shouted the Briton when he saw the last skirt flutter at the top of a companionway.
"Now, you'll go over the side, sir, won't you?" asked the master, anxiously, as two orderly files of men stepped to the sides.
"As the two commanders here," Dave answered, easily, "I believe that tradition requires you and me to go over last of all, Captain Senby."
"But your wife, sir——"
"Is an American, Captain, who has taken the oath of service to her country's flag just as you and I have done."
"But, madam, you——" began the Briton, turning to Belle.
"My husband has spoken, sir," smiled Belle. "Surely, Captain Senby, you do not believe in mutiny."