"I am of the same impression," said Stoss. "The sailors declare they know
nothing about it."
"We carried out whatever orders we received," said the sailors.
Fleischmann put in his word:
"The bulkheads were not closed down. I never saw the captain, and I don't
know what sort of man he was. But the bulkheads were not closed. My place
was next to a family of Russian Jewish emigrants. We felt an awful shock,
and a crashing and crunching as if the ship had run against a great rock.
The panic broke out immediately. All lost their heads and went clean out
of their minds. We were hurled against one another and against the walls.
Here you can see how I was bruised." He rolled up his sleeves. "There was
a dark girl belonging to the Russian Jewish family who saw to it that
time should not hang heavy on my hands during the trip." Doctor Wilhelm
looked at Frederick significantly. "She wouldn't let go of me. She was
hoarse from screaming. Finally, all she could do was pant. She hung on to
me, and, as I said, kept panting, 'Either you'll go down with me or
you'll save me.' What could I do? I really had to give her one over her
head."
"Yes," said Wendler, "what is a man to do in a case like that? Here's to
you, gentlemen!"
All touched glasses. Frederick turned pale, and the others laughed
heartily.
"By the way, Doctor von Kammacher," said Stoss, "I just thought of that
Hahlström girl. Really, you ought to persuade her to come to an agreement
with Webster and Forster. If you keep her from dancing, you will be
interfering with her future."
"I?" queried Frederick. "What an idea! What business is it of mine?"
Stoss, without heeding him, continued:
"Webster and Forster are, as a rule, very decent. But their influence and
connections are incalculable. Woe to the man or woman that incurs their
displeasure."
"I beg your pardon, Mr. Stoss, but you may as well spare your breath.
I am by no means the girl's guardian. Nor am I at all fitted to be a
trafficker in men or girls."
"Oh, oh, oh! Why so severe?" said Stoss. The others, including Doctor
Wilhelm, chimed in; which only heightened Frederick's brusqueness. "Don't
you know there's lots of money in that little witch just now? As the
American business man says, 'There's money in it.' Don't forget we're in
the dollar land, where you can't rest until the ground has been
completely exhausted and the last nugget of gold has been extracted."
Frederick was outraged. He felt like taking his hat and running away. In
his present mood, he could scarcely conceive why he had come to meet
these people. To turn the conversation and give vent to his spite and ill
humour, and also for a nobler reason, he suddenly began to speak of the
maid, Rosa, denouncing the American newspapers for having said almost
nothing of the heroic girl.
"It would be of far more importance to me to do something for her than
for any other woman. I'm not a man to bargain and haggle; but if a
collection was made and they did not collect for Rosa, then they
neglected a true heroine of the _Roland_."
"What do you mean by that? What do you mean?" Fleischmann demanded
somewhat rudely, afraid of losing his booty.
Here Bulke intervened.
"Remember, Mr. Fleischmann, Rosa was the first to see you. If Rosa hadn't
dragged you out of the water--she's as strong as a bear--the rest of us
in the boat might merely have struck you over the head with our oars and
let you sink."
"You're talking nonsense, you numskull," said Fleischmann, withdrawing
and turning toward the wall with the pictures. "I keep seeing nothing but
those two moonstruck oxen." He referred to one of the wonderful
Daubignys.
Frederick paid and took leave, declining, as politely as he could, their
proposition that they all lunch together.