Rockets flared up into the sky at regular intervals, in the faint hope that should they attract the attention of another vessel she would follow the disabled _Sirdar_ and render help when the weather moderated.
When the captain ascertained that no water was being shipped, the damage being wholly external, the collision doors were opened and the passengers admitted to the saloon, a brilliant palace, superbly indifferent to the wreck and ruin without.
Captain Ross himself came down and addressed a few comforting words to the quiet men and pallid women gathered there.

He told them exactly what had happened.
Sir John Tozer, self-possessed and critical, asked a question.
"The junk is destroyed, I assume ?" he said.
"It is." "Would it not have been better to have struck her end on ?" "Much better, but that is not the view we should take if we encountered a vessel relatively as big as the _Sirdar_ was to the unfortunate junk." "But," persisted the lawyer, "what would have been the result ?" "You would never have known that the incident had happened, Sir John." "In other words, the poor despairing Chinamen, clinging to their little craft with some chance of escape, would be quietly murdered to suit our convenience." It was Iris's clear voice that rang out this downright exposition of the facts.

Sir John shook his head; he carried the discussion no further.
The hours passed in tedious misery after Captain Ross's visit.

Every one was eager to get a glimpse of the unknown terrors without from the deck.

This was out of the question, so people sat around the tables to listen eagerly to Experience and his wise saws on drifting ships and their prospects.
Some cautious persons visited their cabins to secure valuables in case of further disaster.