"Who!" Cadogan bounded in his seat; and then, smiling at himself:
"That's a good one--I took it seriously."
"Take it seriously, please."
Cadogan instantly sobered. "But I'm not aching to die. And the Lord
never intended me for a martyr."
"Are you sure you know what the Lord intended you for? You have done
great deeds in one way. You could do great deeds in another way. A great
deed is never more than a great thought in action. You need but the
great thought to give the great deed birth."
"But I never originated a great thought in my life."
"What man ever did? The seeds of great thoughts are born in us, which
means that they come from God. But great deeds are man's. And if it
should come to pass in your adventurous life that you go to a calamitous
death, it may not be altogether a pity. If your heart remains pure as
now, it surely would not be. You have every qualification, if you could
but be born again."
"Why wouldn't you yourself be the man for such a thing?" It was Meade,
eying the man from under contracted eyebrows, who put this question.
"Thanks!" Lavis's smile was almost perceptible.
"I did not mean----"
"No harm. It would require the creative genius. I am no longer
creative."
"But you have an intellect."
"Meaning that I have a well-developed muscle in the brain? The man who
lifts heavy weights in the circus has also a well-developed muscle in
his arm, or back, or legs, but what does he teach us that is for the
betterment of the race? But Mr. Cadogan here has the flaming soul. And
the last passenger on this ship should be such as he, a strong man with
the innocence of the child." He turned from the older to the younger
man. "You are creative in thought, powerful, direct, tireless in action,
Mr. Cadogan. Every new experience still comes to you with the dew of the
morning on it. You should die hard, with your eyes open to the last.
Nothing would escape you. And you would know what dying was, because for
you to give up life would be a great renunciation."
Cadogan shook his head. "Even if all the rest of it were true, I have
nothing in life to renounce."
"How can you know that? You would be renouncing a limitless capacity for
enjoyment, if nothing more." Lavis rose to his feet. "I hope I haven't
bored you too much? I think I will go out and get some fresh air." He
bowed and smiled to Meade, smiled more warmly on Cadogan, wrapped his
top-coat over his evening clothes, and went out on deck.
Meade saw that Cadogan was gazing thoughtfully on the seat which Lavis
had vacated. "What do you make of him, Cadogan?"
Cadogan's face, when he swung his chair around, was flushed, his
dark-blue eyes more glowing than usual. "I don't know, except that he
had me thinking. He made me feel that he was reading my mind, and before
he left I was saying to myself, 'When I grow older I'll be something
like him,' only, of course, with less brains than he's got."
"You'll have brains enough, don't fear. He made me think of the head of
a religious order who went wrong some years ago. But that was before I
knew much of the inside of Continental affairs. A woman, as I recall it.
However, he's gone--he made my head ache trying to follow him, and--but
there is the major and Vogel passing the port-hole. I'll call them in
and we'll have our little rubber."
* * * * *
They sat in to their little rubber, and while they played a passenger of
importance was auctioning off the pool on the ship's run for the next
day.
He stood on a table to see and be seen, a short, fat, bearded man who
sometimes had to pause for breath. "Here she is, gentlemen, the largest
ship of all time making marine history. What d'y' say, gentlemen? We all
know what we did up to noon to-day. We did even better, impossible
though it may seem, this afternoon. Now, what am I offered for the high
field? Come now, gentlemen. By Tuesday morning, at ten o'clock, are we
to be abreast of Sandy Hook or not? It will be a record run if we make
it, but whether we are a few minutes late or early, every indication
points to a grand day's run for to-morrow. Come, gentlemen, bid up!"
"What of the rumors of icebergs?" asked a voice.
"Pray do not joke, gentlemen. I beg of you, do not joke. Has any person
here observed any notice of icebergs posted on the ship's board? I fancy
not. To-day I myself put the question to the man whose word is law on
this ship. Do I have to name him, gentlemen? No need, is there? No. 'Are
we going to slow down?' was my question. 'On the contrary, we are going
to go faster,' was the reply."
There was a laugh. "Seventy pounds!" was called.
"That's the spirit, gentlemen. Seventy pounds for the high field. The
gentleman who shall be fortunate enough to win this pool will have
something to brag about in future days. Come, now, how much for the high
field? Seventy-five? Good! Gentlemen, I am offered----"
"What's the high field worth, Cadogan?" asked Vogel.
"All you want to bid, if nothing goes wrong. But with ship's officers
spending more time with distinguished passengers than on the bridge, I
wouldn't give a nickel for it."
"I won't bid, then."
The voice of the man on the table was increasing in volume. "Eighty-five
pounds I am offered for the high field. It is not enough, not enough by
far, gentlemen--eh! Eh, I say."
The ship heaved, not violently; gently rather, under them. There was an
easy, slight roll to port, a dull, almost noiseless bumping, a slow,
heavy resistance, as of a heavy object being forced over a stubbornly
yielding surface.
To either side of him and in the mirrors Cadogan could see a dozen men
peer inquiringly up over cards or books or glasses. Meade stared around
the room. "What the devil's that?" he asked, and held a card high, with
eyes directed to the nearest deck door.
There was a recoil of the ship, which slowly and gently, but surely and
almost comically, to Cadogan's way of thinking, urged the stout waist of
Meade against the edge of the table.
Cadogan waited his last turn to play, laid down his card, and scooped in
the trick. "Forty on points, eight on honors, Major," he said, and set
it down. "If nobody minds, I'll step out on deck and see what stopped
her."
"Stopped! Is she stopped?" exclaimed Vogel.
"She is." Cadogan strolled out of the smoking-room. Three or four had
preceded him; half a dozen, who had nothing else to do, strolled out
after him.
In a few minutes those who had gone out were beginning to return.
"Well, what do you know about that?" whooped the first one. "Hit a
lump of ice! Lucky for the ice we didn't hit it fair, with this
forty-five-thousand-tonner going along at twenty-five or six knots an
hour like she is!"
Several laughed at that, and Major Crupp, who was patiently riffling the
cards, called out to the last speaker: "Did you see Mr. Cadogan out
there?"
"I saw him going toward the bow of the ship, Major," was the answer.
"Investigating, I suppose. Well, suppose we play dummy--what do you-all
say?--till Caddie comes back. He's possessed of a demon for finding out
things. Your deal, Mr. Vogel."