After I had listened to all the evidence of the shipping men that morning, I really felt very apprehensive about our chances on the Black Sea trip, and it seemed to me that the least I could do was to tell Morris what I had been told, and give him the option of avoiding the risk if the adventure was not to his liking. So I told him that I had been talking over the Black Sea proposition with some shipping people. “It seems it is a pretty bad place,” I said, “and these fellows here are willing to lay bets that we won’t get back to Constantinople. What do you think about it?” “All right! Fine business,” he replied with a grin, not in the least perturbed. I thought I would put it in plain words, so I said: “The fact is, Morris, two large steamers have been sunk within ten days, trying to get into the Bosphorus, and they do say here that the _France_ is too small for December seas, and in a word, that we will never get to Odessa anyway, much less ever come back to Constantinople.” This sobered Morris a little, and he stopped grinning. “I don’t want to urge you to go,” I continued. “I have told you all I know about the situation. Personally, I don’t think it is as bad as they say, but, as a matter of fact, I do think we take a pretty big risk, and if you have any particular reasons for wanting to get home, you want to think about it now. I can give you your wages to date and your fare to Kansas City. Now it’s up to you. What do you want to do?” He walked to the window and looked out for perhaps a minute. Then he came back. “What are you going to do?” he said. “My hand is forced,” I replied. “I have wired my paper that I leave to-night. I am going anyway.” “All right,” said Morris. “If you go, I go.” “That settles it,” I replied. “Pack up and have everything aboard by six o’clock to-night.” That afternoon I paid Pandermaly his due and went aboard the _France_ for what was to prove the most strenuous two weeks in my experience. CHAPTER V _We Sail Out into the Black Sea in the Salvage Steamer France and for Sixty-five Hours Shake Dice with Death_