"Anyone else missing?" demanded Captain Blair.
There was a pause, then half a dozen voices replied in unison:
"Yes, sir, Minalto, the quartermaster of the port watch."
"No sign of them?"
Several of the men peered into the now transparent water, for the sand disturbed by the sinking vessel had now settled. Twenty feet below the surface, pinned down by something engaging the starboard gunwale, the life-boat could be seen with fair distinctness. She was lying on her beam ends with her bows slightly lower than her stern.
"Can't see 'em, sir," replied one of the men. "P'raps they're trapped between the boat and the side of the ship."
"You might have given us more warning," said Captain Blair addressing the taciturn lieutenant. "If you had I should not have lost a promising officer and a smart seaman."
"Imbeciles, both of them," snapped Black Strogoff. "They have themselves only to blame. It is none of my affair."
"Now I come to think on it," resumed the irresponsible bowman. "I think I saw Mr. Burgoyne mixed up wi' some gear as we dipped. An'——"
Captain Blair held up his hand to enjoin silence. Having succeeded in bluffing Black Strogoff he considered it high time for the mendacious recital to terminate. He was too good an actor to risk wrecking the piece by an excess of "gagging".