All his bluster had gone, and he seemed to have caught the contagion of preternatural calm.

"And listen to the women scream," he said grimly--almost bitterly, I thought, as though he had been through the experience before.
The vessels came together before I could follow his advice.

We must have been struck squarely amidships, for I saw nothing, the strange steamboat having passed beyond my line of vision.

The _Martinez_ heeled over, sharply, and there was a crashing and rending of timber.

I was thrown flat on the wet deck, and before I could scramble to my feet I heard the scream of the women.