As Paul rejoined the girls, there sounded through the Tarsus a dull explosion, that made the ship tremble.

The commander was hurrying along the deck.  Many of the passengers, who had gone below to pack their belongings in anticipation of being transferred, now came rushing out of their staterooms.

“What was it?”

“Are we going to blow up?”

“Is the ship sinking?”

“Don’t be alarmed!” Captain Falcon exhorted them, but, even as he spoke, there came a second dull rumbling, a trembling of the vessel, and another explosion, louder than the first.  There were screams from frightened women and children, and a number of men passengers made a rush for the boats, as the sailors had done before.

CHAPTER VII

IN PORT

“Stand back!” cried Captain Falcon, and again his hand went to his pocket as though to draw a weapon.  “Stand back!  The same rule applies to you men passengers as to the sailors.  Women and children first!  Do you hear?  Stand back!”

The rush was halted almost before it started.  Then Mr. Switzer, who had taken no part in it, said slowly: 

“Dot is right.  Gentlemen, ve are forgetting ourselves!”

“And it took him—­above everyone else—­to remind them of it,” said Mr. DeVere in a low voice.  He had remained by the side of his daughters.

“Mr. Switzer is a bigger man than any of us thought,” murmured Ruth.  “Oh, Daddy, is the boat going to sink?”

“We are going to be blown up!” exclaimed a big man, who, with others, had made a half start for the boat, and then had hung back shamefacedly.

“If you say that again!” cried Paul, in a fierce whisper, “I’ll throw you overboard!  This is no time to start a panic!”

The man slunk away.  There came another explosion, not so loud as the first, but enough to cause the men to start involuntarily, and to bring frantic screams from the women passengers.

“What is that, Captain?” asked Mr. Pertell.

“Nothing to be alarmed about,” was the calm answer.

“They sound alarming enough,” declared a woman.

“But they are not,” the commander insisted.  “They are only slight explosions of coal gas in some of the bunkers.  The fire is slowly eating into them but the explosions are not heavy enough to cause any serious damage to the ship.

“The Bell will soon be up to us.  In fact, we could see her now, were it not for the slight haze.  And, as it is evident that you will have to be taken off in her, I am going to lower the boats, and let you row away from this ship.

“You will be picked up by the Bell as soon as she gets here, and, in any event, you would have to take to the small boats.  So you might as well start.  I will have all your baggage brought on deck ready for transfer,” he added to the moving picture manager.