I turned on the chart-room lights. At the top of the after
companionway the crew had been assembled, and Burns was haranguing
them. I knocked at the maids' door, and, finding it unlocked, opened
it an inch or so.
"Karen!" I called--and, receiving no answer: "Mrs. Sloane!" (the
stewardess).
I opened the door wide and glanced in. Karen Hansen, the maid, was
on the floor, dead. The stewardess, in collapse from terror, was in
her bunk, uninjured.
CHAPTER VII
WE FIND THE AXE
I went to the after companionway and called up to the men to send
the first mate down; but Burns came instead.
"Singleton's sick," he explained. "He's up there in a corner, with
Oleson and McNamara holding him."
"Burns," I said cautiously--"I've found another!"
"God, not one of the women!"
"One of the maids--Karen."
Burns was a young fellow about my own age, and to this point he had
stood up well. But he had been having a sort of flirtation with the
girl, and I saw him go sick with horror. He wanted to see her, when
he had got command of himself; but I would not let him enter the
room. He stood outside, while I went in and carried out the
stewardess, who was coming to and moaning. I took her forward, and
told the three women there what I had found.
Mrs. Johns was better, and I found them all huddled in her room.
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