The Wreck of the Titan

as the watch mustered on deck; “

, boats’n,” said Ro

the bridge. G

hen the silence and loneliness of a night-watch at sea, intensified by the never-ceasing hum of the engines, and relieved only by the sounds of distant music and laughter from the theater, descended on the forward part of the ship. Fo

wland had given in his turn the required call — “all’s w

drew near; “I hear you’ve

it, sir,” replied Rowland; “I am n

s complete at Annapolis as at the Royal Naval Colleg

ously dropping the “sir”; “but I think that i

idea of his — that of locating the position of ice in a

culation, and time to calculate. Cold is negative heat, and can be t

and humming a tune to himself; then, sayin

ed, as he peered into the binnacle; “or el

Who did she marry? Some one, probably a stranger long after my banishment, who came to her possessed of a few qualities of mind or physique that pleased her, — who did not need to love her — his chances were better without that — and he steps coolly and easily into my heaven. And they tell us, that ‘God doeth all things well,’ and that there is a heaven where all our unsatisfied wants are attended to — provided we have the necessary faith in it. That means, if it means anything, that after a lifetime of unrecognized allegiance, during which I win nothing but her fear and contempt, I may be rewarded by the love and companionship of her soul. Do I love her soul? Has her soul beauty of face and the figure and carriage o

e arose from an under berth in a saloon stateroom, and, with wide-open, staring eyes, groped its way to the deck, unobserved by the watchman. The white, bare little feet felt no

But does the individual who perishes, because unfitted to survive, owe any love, or gratitude to this God? He does not! On the supposition that He exists, I deny it! And on the complete lack of evidence that He does exist, I affirm to myself the integrity of cause and effect — which is enough to explain the Universe, and me. A merciful God — a kind, loving, just, and merciful God —” he burst into a fit of incongruous laughter, which sto

s eyes of a non-descript monster, for which the cable chains had multiplied themselves into innumerable legs and tentacles. And this thing was crawling around within the triangle. The anchor-davits were many-headed serpents which danced on their tails, and the anchors themselves writhed and squirmed in the shape of immense hairy caterpillars, while faces appeared on the two whit

e”; but in an instant he stood in the darkness of a garden — one that he had known. In the distance were the

h the years,” he groaned; “drunk then — drunk since. She could have saved me, but she chose to damn me.” He strove to pace up and down, but

of the deep. What will be the last effect? Where in the scheme of ultimate balance — under the law of the correlation of energy, will my wasted wealth of love be gathered, and weighed, and credit

ear, nor wonder, nor emotion of any kind, save one — the unspeakable hunger of a love that had failed. Yet it seemed that he was not John Rowland, but some one, or something else; for presently he saw himself, far away

es held the tenderness, and her voice held the pleading that he had known but in dreams. “Come back,” she called; “come back to me.” But it seem

hen he looked again for the two, they were gone, and in their places were two clouds of nebula, which resolved into myriad points of sparkling light

er, and it too was growing larger, and coming. And it seemed to him that this light and darkness were the good and evil of his life, and he watched, to see whi

ss darkness to the form of the first officer. The little white figure, which had just darted past the three watchers, stood at his feet. As though warned by an inner subconsciousness of danger, it

— though he stammered from the now waning effect of the drug: “Myra’s child, sir; it’s asleep.” He picked up th

ing tone, in which were also chagrin and di

ply a shout from the cr

e seconds the bow of the Titan began to lift, and ahead, and on either hand, could be seen, through the fog, a field of ice, which arose in an incline to a hundred feet high in her track. The music in the theater ceased, and amon