race with the sea, striving with every ounce of steam in her boilers to find a safe berth for her mutilated body before the inrush of waters drowned her fires.  That the race was close even the dullest understood, for the Nebraska was settling forward, and plowed into the night head down, like a thing maddened with pain.  She was becoming unmanageable, too, and O’Neil thought with pity of that little iron-hearted skipper on the bridge who was fighting her so furiously.

There was little confusion, little talking upon the upper deck now; only a child whimpered or a woman sobbed hysterically.  But down forward among the steerage passengers the case was different.  These were mainly Montenegrins, Polacks, or Slavs bound for the construction camps to the westward, and they surged from side to side like cattle, requiring Tomlinson’s best efforts to keep them from rushing aft.

O’Neil had employed thousands of such men; in fact, many of these very fellows had cashed his time-checks and knew him by sight.  He went forward among them, and his appearance proved instantly reassuring.  He found his two hostlers, and with their aid he soon reduced the mob to comparative order.

But in spite of his confident bearing he felt a great uneasiness.  The Nebraska seemed upon the point of diving; he judged she must be settling very fast, and wondered that the forward tilt did not lift her propeller out of the water.  Fortunately, however, the surface of the sound was like a polished floor and there were no swells to submerge her.

Over-side to starboard he could see the dim black outlines of mountains slipping past, but where lay Halibut Bay or what distance remained to be covered he could but vaguely guess.

In these circumstances the wait became almost unbearable.  The race seemed hours long, the mites stretched into leagues, and with every moment of suspense the ship sank lower.  The end came unexpectedly.  There was a sudden startled outcry as the Nebraska struck for a second time that night.  She rose slightly, rolled and bumped, grated briefly, then came to rest.

Captain Brennan shouted from the bridge: 

“Fill your life-boats, Mr. James, and lower away carefully.”

A cheer rose from the huddled passengers.

The boiler-room was still dry, it seemed, for the incandescent lights burned without a flicker, even after the grimy oilers and stokers had come pouring up on deck.

O’Neil climbed to the bridge.  “Is this Halibut Bay?” he asked Captain Johnny.

“It is.  But we’re piled up on the reef outside.  She may hold fast—­I hope so, for there’s deep water astern, and if she slips off she’ll go down.”

“I’d like to save my horses,” said the younger man, wistfully.  Through all the strain of the past half-hour or more his uppermost thought had been for them.  But Brennan had no sympathy for such sentiments.

“Hell’s bells!” he exclaimed.  “Don’t talk of horses while we’ve got women and children aboard.”  He hastened away to assist in transferring his passengers.