Harold had many duties to perform that morning, and was late in returning to his cabin. Three hours earlier he had parted with his wife, and the storm not having reached its highest point, she had gone on deck. Now, to his surprise, she was not to be found. First he scanned the upper and lower decks, next the large saloon, and finally their own stateroom; but all without avail.
He was seriously alarmed. It was the first time during the twenty days of their voyage that he had missed her. Where could she be? With the tremendous tip of the vessel, and the swash of the sea, could she have been swept overboard? Was it possible that the angry waves had stolen her from him? and unconsciously he wrung his hands in a sharp twinge of agony.
Rushing up the gangway again to the upper deck, he met Captain Osborne of the ship and his own Colonel coming down.
"You look alarmed, Harold!" cried Sir George. "Ammunition all right?"
"Yes, sir," he stammered, "but I am looking for my wife. She went on deck at nine bells, and I've not seen her since."
"Oh, she's safe somewhere," was the reassuring answer. "You could not lose a woman on the _North King_."
"You might lose one off, though, in a storm like this," said the captain, chaffing the young benedict. "I've known more than one woman to drop overboard--and men by the dozen."
"Stuff!" exclaimed Sir George, who saw that Harold was taking it seriously.
"Fact," returned the officer. "We just lighted ship after each battle was over." He laughed merrily, but Harold was off toward the soldier's quarters. A new idea had seized him; perhaps she had gone to visit the other women. Only the evening before, she had remarked that they had not been on deck since the storm began. And he knew that some of them were ill.
"Is Mrs. Manning here?" he asked of a seaman, as he rushed down the stairway to their cabin.
"Yes, sir; Ahh think so," was the answer. "Corporal Jenkins' wife is pretty low, and one of the wimmin fetched her. Theer she is at end o' t' cabin under t' fo'castle."
Harold hurried on. Owing to the storm the hatchways had been fastened down for days. The portholes were closed and the air of the densely peopled compartment was impure. Still a couple of men at the far end were again singing: