I strain to see Wink and Olly but don’t spot their narrow forms. “They could’ve gone into the Smoking Room or the General Room where it’s warmer.”

Bo nods. The stubble that covers his chin makes him appear older and more solemn. “But let’s make sure they’re not here first, in case we have trouble getting up again.” He’s back to Cantonese only. I guess the nerves are getting to him.

“How about we split up? I’ll look down there, and you—”

“No. If I lost you, your brother would kill me.” He offers me his arm.

With a sigh, I take it. We travel up the starboard side, a trip made trickier by the press of confused people. A lady faints, and a crowd collects, forcing us to climb a bench to pass them.

Jovial voices lift from a group of men smoking cigars, as if this were a party and the crewmen cranking the davits, the entertainment.

Orders are barked. More boats are swung to outboard. Some hang lopsided, their cables twisting and their ropes whipping about, with crewmen scrambling to right them.

One might think they had never practiced. A performance needs practice, or it will fail.

A woman slips on the iced-over pine slats, and Bo and I catch her between us. She shakes us off, hardly seeing us. “I don’t want to die. Where’s that Great Dane? I didn’t mean to lose him, Phinny. I’ll find him!”

Her words send a charge through me. Whoever Phinny is, he’s not present, at least not in the flesh. Many ghosts are being stirred up by this crisis. I hope they leave the living alone. There’s too much harm on this boat already.

Bo steers me clear of a developing brawl between an officer and a drunk fellow trying to board a boat before it’s swung out. “Sir, you must stand back!”

The drunk man swings a fist, but other men pull him away.

Then, wiping the sweat from his forehead, the officer blows a whistle. “We shall load women and children first! Men, stand back. Let the women pass.”

Bo casts me a worried look. “Maybe you should get on now.”

An offended noise clears my throat. “I’m not leaving until the rest of you can board.”

Bo scowls, and a shadow crosses his face. With a shake of his head, as if to cast off his worry, his eyes comb the crowd for the lads. “I only see first class here.”