In Search of El Dorado | Page 6

as he came--
"Here, let me get at him. Officer or no officer, I'll soon shift him!"
"Yes, yes; that's right, governor," shouted others, also pressing forward.
"Let's get him out of the way. What right has he got to keep us down
here while the ship's sinking? Our lives are just as good as other
people's, and we've a right to save 'em if we can."
Dick saw that a crisis was imminent and that unless he acted with
decision the people on the deck below would very quickly get out of
hand. Luckily for him, the steward whom he had dispatched for his
revolvers at this moment appeared, thrust the weapons into his hand,
and dashed off again without saying a word. The youngster was
reluctant to display the weapons, for he was by no means sure that the
sight of them would produce the desired effect. Yet there seemed to be
no alternative, for the little band of men below--some eight or ten in
number--were evidently determined to force the passage of the ladder.
He therefore pointed both weapons straight at the group as he shouted:
"Halt there, you men! If you dare to move another step, I'll shoot. What
do you mean by your outrageous conduct, pushing and hustling your
way violently through a crowd of helpless women and children in that
brutal fashion? You wouldn't do it if any of them belonged to you, and
I am surprised that the husbands and fathers put up with it. Call
yourselves Englishmen? Pah! I'm ashamed of you. You make me sick!"
Dick's appeal to the husbands and fathers of those whom the gang had
been hustling so roughly was a happy inspiration, and produced an
immediate effect, the said husbands and fathers at once raising their
voices in remonstrance, while the women also joined in, with the result
that a heated altercation quickly ensued which threatened to speedily
develop into a free fight. But that was only a shade less desirable than
the other, wherefore, slipping his revolvers into his pockets, Dick

intervened.
"Now then, below there, none of that!" he shouted. "I'll allow no
fighting. The first man who strikes a blow shall be clapped in irons.
And just listen to me a moment, if you please," he continued, as the
faces below turned again toward him. "Will one of you men who seem
so extraordinarily anxious to come up here kindly explain why you
want to come?"
For a moment there was dead silence among the crowd, then the burly
man whom Dick had struck, and who had retired crestfallen to the foot
of the ladder, looked up and replied:
"The ship's sinking--you can't deny it--and our lives are worth just as
much as other people's. We want to have a fair chance of saving 'em,
and--"
"Stop a moment," interrupted Dick, thinking he saw a chance to create
a diversion and avert the inevitable rush for a few minutes. "You say
that the ship is sinking and that you want to save your lives by taking to
the boats. Have you all taken the precaution to put your money and
other valuables in your pockets? And have you all seen to it that you
are dressed in your warmest clothes? You know," he continued,
banteringly, "if you were at this moment called to get into the boats,
you would be very sorry when you afterwards remembered that in your
hurry you had left all your valuables behind you. And boating in this
weather is a most unpleasantly cold business, I assure you."
A rather lengthy silence followed this speech of Dick's. Those whom he
had addressed were thinking very seriously about what he had said
touching money and valuables. Probably not one of them had dreamed
of adopting the precautionary measures suggested, and many of them
were painfully conscious at that moment that every penny they
possessed was locked up in the trunks in their cabins. Several of them
began to move hesitatingly towards the deck-house entrance. Then a
man who was leading the way, suddenly halted and shouted--
"Look here, mister. Tell us the plain truth, as man to man. Is this ship

going to sink, or isn't she? That's all that we want to know."
The question set Dick's mind working at lightning speed. Should he or
should he not deny the dreadful truth? He felt that he could not
unreservedly deny it, yet, on the other hand, unreservedly to admit it
might precipitate a panic. He quickly decided that the proper thing to
do would be to prepare those people for the inevitable, but to do so in
such a fashion as to reassure them to the utmost possible extent.
Therefore he answered:
"As man to man I tell you that we hope