First over the side
goes Dunningham, backward, then Mr. Pulitzer facing forward, one hand on
the gang-rail, the other on Dunningham's shoulder; then an officer and
one of the secretaries, close behind J. P. and ready to clutch him if he
slipped.
Dunningham reaches the grating at the foot of the gangway, then J. P.,
then there is a pause while the latter is placed in the exact position
where one step forward will carry him into the launch, where the officer
in charge is ready to receive him.
In the meantime the launch is bobbing up and down, its gunwale at one
instant level with the gangway-grating, at another, two or three feet
below it. At the precise moment when the launch is almost at the top of
its rise Dunningham says: "Now, step, please, Mr. Pulitzer." But J. P.
waits just long enough to allow the launch to drop a couple of feet, and
then suddenly makes up his mind and tries to step off onto nothing.
Dunningham, the officer and the secretary seize him as he cries: "My
God! What's the matter? You told me to step."
Then follows a long argument as to what Dunningham had meant precisely
when he said "Step!" This whole process might be repeated several times
before he actually found himself in the launch.
The whole thing inspired me with a morbid curiosity; and whenever J.
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