Timid men looking as white as ghosts, frightened women wringing their hands and screaming with each plunge of the ship, as if they expect it to be the last.
A few foreign passengers are aboard, and they do not seem free from the contagion, though inclined to be more stoical than the Europeans.
As the steamer plunges, some of the passengers are huddled in a corner.
Loud praying can be heard, and those who are least accustomed to such things on ordinary occasions are most vehement now.
A Mohammedan is kneeling on his rug, with his face turned in the direction of Mecca, as near as he can judge, and going through with the strange rigmarole of bows and muttered phrases that constitute his religion.
This scene is not a very pleasant one, but there are features about it which are worth being noticed, and John stands to gaze before seeking his room.
He has heard from the captain that the boat is perfectly safe, unless the storm should grow much heavier, and with this assurance intends to seek his berth and sleep, if such a thing be possible.
He moves toward his state-room.

Just then a billow strikes the steamer almost amidships, and she rolls.

This, not being expected, causes John to slide across the cabin floor, to the accompaniment of a chorus of cries from the frightened people, who are huddled in a corner by this new move on the part of the vessel.
He brings up alongside a state-room door, which is in the act of being opened, even as he bangs up against it.
Consequently John has the greatest difficulty in maintaining his balance, and in order to keep from sliding through the door grasps the sides.
Some one has opened it.

A face is exposed close to his own, a face that, although not terror-stricken, bears the evidence of sudden alarm, as though the new pitch of the vessel and renewed shrieks from within have aroused fear--a face that John Craig recognizes with amazement.
"Tell me, are we sinking ?" she exclaims.
Then she looks again.
"Ah! Doctor Chicago!" "You here, Pauline Potter ?" The presence of the actress on board the steamer gives him a sudden thrill.
It is no mere accident that brings her, but a part of a deep-laid plan, which perhaps not only concerns him, but one in whom he has taken the deepest interest--Lady Ruth.
That is why he cries out, and his words have more than an ordinary amount of astonishment in them.
"Yes, I am leaving Malta.

I have no reason to remain there longer.