A deep groan startled them and they sprang to their feet, pale and trembling with sudden terror, each holding his breath and straining his ear to catch a repetition of the dread sound.
But all was silent, and after a moment of anxious waiting, they sat down to their game again; trying to conceal and shake off their fears with a forced, unnatural laugh.
But scarcely had they taken the cards into their hands when a second groan, deeper, louder and more prolonged than the first, again started them to their feet.
"I tell you this is growing serious," whispered one in a shaking voice, his very lips white with fear.
"It came from under the table," gasped Ward, "look what's there."
"Look yourself."
"Both together then," and simultaneously they bent down and peered into the space underneath the board.
There was nothing there.
"What can it have been?" they asked each other.
"Oh, nonsense! what fools we are! of course somebody's ill in one of the state-rooms." And they resumed their game for the second time.