Money
and jewelry should be secured, but no baggage of any sort, not even the
smallest handbag, can be carried, as all other personal belongings must
be left on board. Passengers will gather here, and remain here until I
send one of the officers for them. The companion doors will not be
closed again, but the decks are quite impassable. You hear for
yourselves that they are momentarily swept by heavy seas."
He turned to the chief steward.
"Your men, Mr. Malcolm," he said, "will begin at once, under your
directions, to draw stores for each boat. There need be no hurry or
excitement. We are, as yet, many miles distant from the nearest known
land. If the wind changes, or one of several possible things happens,
the _Kansas_ will suffer no damage whatever. I wish all hands to be
prepared, however, for the chance, the remote chance, I trust, of the
ship's being driven ashore, and I beg each one of you to remember that
discipline and strict obedience to orders are not only more necessary
now than ever, but also that they will be strictly enforced."
The concluding sentence was uttered very slowly and clearly.
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