"Your judgment will be as good as mine, sir," Dave answered. "It is impossible to name the number of moments we can hope to keep above water, but we both know it cannot be for long." At last the decks were cleared of litters. There were no more to be brought out. The last boats had taken away many besides the stretcher patients. "Give us ten minutes more," said Darrin, as he watched the boats discharging at the Italian steamer, and returning, "and we shall all be safe." "They will be the longest, most anxious ten minutes that I ever lived!" sighed Captain Senby. "Man, you're white and you look ill," Dave cried. "Buck up! You've done splendidly, and the discipline on board has been perfect. You have nothing with which to reproach yourself." "Do you really think so?" Senby asked, with a wan smile. "I thank you, but it seems to me I should have done better." "You could do better than you're doing now, for you've lost your nerve," Darrin warned him, in a low voice. "Yet while you needed your nerve you kept it." "You won't mind saying that in your report, will you?" asked the master, eagerly. "I'd hate to have my family hear anything that would make them feel I had broken down." "The discipline on this ship shows what you have done," Dave rejoined. "You're suffering, now, on account of the people who may be lost, and you're thinking of the Red Cross women who are stubborn enough to do their duty like men. But you've trained your crew well, you have the respect of your officers and men, and you've given all help possible in the shortest amount of time. A ship's master can be judged, instantly, by the discipline that prevails on his craft. Your family will hear nothing about your conduct that won't please 'em." At this the British master "bucked up" wonderfully, but he still watched the Red Cross women with wistful eyes. "Here are the first boats coming back to take the last of us off," Darrin said encouragingly. "Now, clear all hands off lively." "The women first?" almost pleaded Captain Senby. "Of course!" Dave nodded. "They've done their full duty, and done it splendidly. Now, insist." Galvanized into action by these cheering words, Captain Senby cleared his throat, then roared in a fog-horn voice: "All hands stand by to abandon ship! Be lively, please, ladies. No man stir over the side until the last woman has gone over!" Some of the Red Cross women smilingly obeyed the order; others hung back. "There are still some wounded men on board," pleaded one of them. "Let the last wounded man go over the side, then we'll go." "I'll kill any man on this deck who tries to go over until the last woman is taken care of!" shouted Senby, drawing a revolver. Some of the nurses still demurred, but the master was obdurate.