But, thank the Lord, by the time he had finally fought his way to
Ingigerd's cabin on deck, it had not yet reached that point. It was to
Ingigerd Hahlström that an impulse had been driving him. Beside the
children, for whom in a motherly way she was trying constantly to devise
a new occupation, he found her father and Doctor Wilhelm.
"People's cowardice is something fearful," said Doctor Wilhelm.
"Easily said; but what's the matter?" asked Frederick.
"One of the bearings got too hot. It takes time for it to cool off."
The passengers crowded on the companionway kept calling for the captain.
"The captain has other things to do than answer silly questions," said
Wilhelm.
"I think the people should be quieted and given an explanation,"
Frederick declared. "To me a certain amount of fear seems justifiable in
the landlubber, who doesn't know anything of nautical matters and hasn't
the least notion of what is happening."
"Why should they be told anything?" rejoined Wilhelm. "Even if matters
are very bad, it is advisable to deceive them."
"Well, then," said Hahlström, "deceive them. Send stewards around to tell
them everything is all right and we'll have to drown."
Shortly afterward, the captain actually did send the little army of
stewards through the vessel to inform the passengers that, as Doctor
Wilhelm had said, one of the bearings had got too hot, and in a short
while the engines would be working again.
"Is there danger?" the stewards were asked a thousand times.
"No," was the decided answer.
To keep the air in her cabin pure, Ingigerd left the door slightly ajar;
and the sight of the colossal _Roland_, as seen from her cabin,
helplessly drifting in the ocean, by no means seemed to bear out the
stewards' declaration.
"There is no use concealing the fact that we are scudding under bare
poles," said Hahlström.
"We are dripping oil on the water," said Wilhelm, pointing through the
opening of the door to where Pander and a sailor were lowering a bag of
sail-cloth filled with oil. With the heavy seas that kept sweeping down
like great mountains in motion and the fearfully boiling waves
accompanying the swells, the measure seemed almost ridiculous. Each
instant the dead _Roland_, constantly sending out its long-drawn signal,
which sounded more like a call for help than a warning, was raised up on
a plunging mountain of water, where there seemed as little prospect of
safety as when it sank into the valleys. The great steamer seemed not
to know where to turn. The raging waters twisted it over now on its
starboard side, now on its port side. Of its herculean might, nothing
remained but its unwieldy, helpless bulk. It turned about slowly, and
turned back again, and all of a sudden a fearful sea, like a thousand
hissing white panthers leaping from a dark green mountain ridge, dashed
over the railing.
"That was bad," said Wilhelm, slamming the door shut in the nick of time.
Frederick's nerves were in a state of tension, not in a mere metaphoric
sense. They produced a purely physical sensation, as of violin strings
too tightly drawn.
"Is it making you nervous?" asked Hahlström.
"Somewhat," said Frederick. "I don't deny it. A man has strength and
intelligence, but can't exercise either, even when danger is imminent."
"Immediate danger?" asked Wilhelm. "No, we are not there yet. In the
first place, the engines will be working again pretty soon; and secondly,
even if we should really have to drift and had to resort to the sails,
we could count on being perfectly easy in our minds a week from now."
"What do you mean by being easy in our minds?" demanded Hahlström.
"The storm is blowing from north-northwest. A ship like this never
capsizes. So, in all probability, we should be carried to the Azores,
where a steamer would tow us into port. Or, perhaps, we should be driven
even further south, and in a week we should be anchoring in view of the
glorious Peak of Teneriffe."
"Many thanks for your Peak of Teneriffe. I have to be in New York. My
daughter has an engagement there. We are under obligations to be there."
"A week of uncertainty would be ruin to my nervous system," said
Frederick. "I am not suited for this passive heroism. I might do more
if I could be active."
"You've read the 'Leather-stocking Tales,'" said Wilhelm, ironically.
"You
know that the American Indians have greater respect for passive heroism.
Think of the stakes on which they burn their captives to death."
"Never mind," said Frederick. "No martyr stakes for me. Were I to hear
that the screw is broken and we should have to drift, my nerves couldn't
stand it. I would jump into the water. That is why I am against
life-preservers. I wouldn't accept one if it were offered to me ten
times over. Why prolong the death agony?"