"Have you plenty of lifeboats?" the old actor wanted to know.
"Yes, enough for all hands. They are provisioned and watered, and are staunch craft. My men have orders to stand by in case of any real danger, and put the small boats over. But we will stick to the ship until the last, though that is not saying, mind you, that we will have to desert her."
"Oh! I couldn't think of going in one of those small boats!" cried Miss Dixon. "They are so low in the water. I should faint every time I looked over the side."
"Well if she looked once, and fainted and stayed so, it would be a good thing for all hands," murmured Paul Ardite.
"Oh, don't say that," Alice reproached him.
"That's how I feel about her," he answered.
"What can be done about picking up the motorboat?" asked Mr. DeVere. They all looked anxiously toward Captain Brisco.
"I have a man on the lookout," answered the commander. "It may seem to some of you heartless to go away and leave her."
"It was," murmured gentle Ruth. But she only whispered the words. There were tears in her eyes.
"But I could do nothing else," resumed Captain Brisco. "As I told you, a vessel can't remain stationary on the sea. We had to move on before the gale. And, as I also said, the motorboat has a better chance of going where she wants to than have we, who must depend on our sails. I have no doubt but that the two in the Ajax are safe."