The gray wall had grown a little whiter, less opaque; they could see now the whole length of the ship, out to the lifting stern. "Oh, go on," tempted the girl; "do it again--louder!" Mr. Masterson looked at her. "Oh, _please_ do," she pleaded; "real loud. I dare you to!" He slowly raised his hands, the thumb-knuckles to his lips again. There sounded two deep, long-drawn, half-roaring, thrilling notes, for all the world like steam in the cup of a great metal whistle. Footsteps, hurried and quick, rushed overhead on the bridge. A hoarse voice shouted orders. The quartermaster spun the wheel. Now: "Full speed ahead, the starboard engine! Full speed astern, port!" "Ay, ay, sir!" There was the clank-clank of the semaphores, and suddenly two bursting, answering blasts that hid the huge funnels in a cloud of feathery white. The admiral in the steamer-chair threw off his wrappings and leaped to the rail. A loud, anxious hail from above: "Lookout, there forward! Can you make out anything?" "Oh, see what I've done!" faltered the Silly Ass in a frightened whisper. Miss Dorn grasped his shoulder. There had followed a sudden cry that rose in a diapason of mad fear: "Vessel ahead! _Star_board your helm, sir! _Star_board your h-e-l-m!" The helm was already over; the ship was swinging wide. Another quick order. The second officer leaped again to the semaphores. The huge fabric trembled, racking in every plate, as both engines reversed at full speed, the screws churning and thundering astern. And now a rift came in the encircling fog, as if it had been cut by a mighty sword. Clear and distinct, not half a cable's length away, wallowed a great black shape. The mighty bow swept veering past her quarter, then her stern, and clear of it by no more than thirty yards! Only those few on deck outside of the weather-cloth saw the sight, and then for but an instant. Never would they forget it! Lying low in the water, all awash from the break of her topgallant-forecastle to the lift of her high poop-deck, the green seas running under her bridge and about her superstructure, swayed a great mass of iron and steel of full five thousand tons! Ship without a soul! A wisp of a flag, upside down, still floated in her slackened rigging; swinging falls dangled from her empty davits. Then the fog closed in, and, as a picture on a lantern-slide fades and disappears, she vanished and was gone! A white-faced boy looked up into Miss Dorn's frightened eyes. His lips moved, but made no sound. On the bridge, the captain had grasped the second officer by the arm. "My God! Fitzgerald, did you see that? It was the _Drachenburg_." "Derelict and abandoned! But, by heaven, sir, _she signaled us!_" The captain turned quickly. "Stop those engines!" he ordered hoarsely.