“In any case,” she remarked, “we are a hospital ship. I expect they’d leave us alone. Major Thomson,” she went on, “I wonder, do you really believe all these stories of the horrible doings of the Germans--the way they have treated drowning people attacked by their submarines, and these hateful stories of Belgium? Sometimes it seems to me as though there was a fog of hatred which had sprung up between the two countries, and we could neither of us quite see clearly what the other was doing.” “I think there is something in that,” Major Thomson agreed. “On the other hand I think it is part of the German principle to make war ruthlessly. I have seen things in Belgium which I shall never forget. As to the submarine business, if half the things are true that we have read, they seem to have behaved like brutes. It’s queer, too,” he went on, “for as a rule seamen are never cruel.” They were silent for a time. For some reason or other, they both avoided mention of the one subject which was in the minds of both. It was not until after the steward had brought him some coffee and they were more than half-way across, that Thomson a little abruptly asked her a question. “Have you seen anything of Captain Granet lately?” “Nothing,” she replied. He turned his head slightly towards her. “Would it trouble you very much if he never came to see you again?” She was watching the misty dawn. “I do not know,” she answered, “but I think that he will come.” “I am not so sure,” he told her. “Do you mean that he is in any fresh trouble?” she asked quickly. “I don’t think he needs any fresh trouble exactly,” Thomson remarked, “but suppose we leave him alone for a little time? Our meeting was so unexpected, and, for me, such a pleasure. Don’t let us spoil it.” “Let us talk of other things,” she agreed readily. “Tell me, for instance, just what does a submarine look like when it pops up out of the sea?” “I have never seen one close to,” he admitted, “except on the surface. Why do you ask?” She pointed with her forefinger to a little spot almost between two banks of mist. “Because I fancied just now that I saw something sticking up out of the water there, something which might have been the periscope of a submarine,” she replied. He looked in the direction which she indicated but shook his head. “I can see nothing,” he said, “but in any case I don’t think they would attack a hospital ship. This is a dangerous area for them, too. We are bound to have a few destroyers close at hand. I wonder if Ralph--”