Indeed, two of the stewardesses, being English, were of the hatchet-wielding, brick-throwing element that made things so warm for the pained but bull-headed male population of London shortly before the Great War began.

These ladies harangued their companions with great effect.
To have heard or witnessed the little gatherings at noon and at the close of work for the day, one might have been led to believe that a grave, portentous ques-tion of state was involved.

Trifling and simple as all this may seem to the reader of this narrative, it serves a definite purpose.

It reveals to a no uncertain degree the eagerness with which these castaways reached out hungrily for the slightest morsel that would satisfy the craving of active minds dulled by the constant, never-absent thought of self; minds charged with thoughts that centred on something thousands of miles away; minds that seldom if ever worked in harmony with hands that toiled.
The men took up the gauntlet.

They considered themselves challenged.
Notwithstanding the secret conviction that the women were right, they stood united in defence of their action.