It did not surprise me, a year after, when I saw in public prints that he was the hero of--but that must be told elsewhere.

I was about to answer him then as I knew he would wish, when a steward appeared and said: "Mr.Boyd, 116 Intermediate, wishes you would come to him, sir, if you would be so kind." Hungerford rose, and, as I made ready to go, urged quietly: "You've got the charts and soundings, Marmion, steam ahead!" and, with a swift but kindly clench of my shoulder, he left me.

In that moment there came a cowardly feeling, a sense of shamefacedness, and then, hard upon it, and overwhelming it, a determination to serve Boyd Madras so far as lay in my power, and to be a man, and not a coward or an idler.
When I found him he was prostrate.

In his eyes there was no anger, no indignation, nor sullenness--all of which he might reasonably have felt; and instantly I was ashamed of the thought which, as I came to him, flashed through my mind, that he might do some violent thing.

Not that I had any fear of violence; but I had an active dislike of awkward circumstances.