IN WHICH THE PACIFIC QUEEN LOSES A PRIZE “A derelict?” Dave said, not quite sure what a derelict was. “Doesn’t that mean a――” “A derelict, my son,” said Barnes, “is the sort of thing a cap’n spends all his life lookin’ for, but most generally he doesn’t find it; and even when he finds it, it might be lucky and it might be powerful unlucky. If the old man has a hoodoo, he’ll either find the derelict in the dark by punching bow on into it, or the derelict won’t be worth the trouble of takin’ to port. But if the skipper who runs across it is one of them people that can’t go wrong, he’ll be able to tow the thing into port and live happy ever after on what he gets out of the salvage.” Dave, consumed with curiosity, held out his hand for the glasses. “Away, child, away,” commanded the cook with his eyes still glued to them. “Here is work for men, not infants. A two-thousand-ton steamer, as I live. We’ll all have rings on our fingers and bells on our toes after this, for the cap’n doesn’t get all the salvage money. I dunno what share the cook gets, eggsactly, but it ought to be about half, I reckon. You’ll pick up a few hundred dollars too, kid, maybe, though I’m sure you don’t deserve it. Here, take a squint through these binoculars; though you don’t deserve that, either.” Dave, rapidly growing more excited as they ran nearer the vessel, tried to discern some sign of life on board her, but could not. He did not understand quite what the cook meant about salvage, though it sounded good. The engine-room telegraph rang, and the _Pacific Queen_ slowed down. The order came from the bridge for a boat to be swung out. Mr. Quick, hustling a crew into her, took charge and put off to the other vessel. Everybody waited impatiently for their return. The ship bobbing up and down, a hundred yards away, had evidently encountered trouble of some sort. Her bows were dangerously low in the water, as if the forward compartments were flooded, and there was a list which made one think she was going to topple over any minute. A number of plates were stove in, showing she had hit something with tremendous force. The boarding party remained away half an hour, and on his return the chief mate reported that the vessel was the _Miriam_, of Boston, apparently laden with a general cargo. She was deserted and sinking. The forward hold and engine-room were full of water, and he thought that only the bulkheads holding out were saving her. Once the pressure of water broke those down, she would sink.