"What game of fools is this?" demanded the lieutenant angrily.
"Life-boat's sunk. Pinned down by the foot of one of the davits," announced one of the men.
"Sunk like a stone, with her sides crushed like an egg-shell," added another.
"Just about as much as we could do to get clear," declared a third. "She was gone in a brace of shakes. An' where's Mr. Burgoyne?"
"Anyone seen Mr. Burgoyne?" inquired Captain Blair loudly.
"I seed 'im in the boat, sir," declared the bowman of the lost life-boat.
"So did I, sir," volunteered another seaman. "He was a-holdin' on the yoke-lines, and was goin' to tell us to——"
"He was a blamed idiot," declared Strogoff. "What did he mean by hanging on alongside when the ship was sinking?"
"She went that sudden-like," explained the bowman.
"Didn't give us no chance no-how."