"Fire! Fire! Fire!"
Marjorie awoke with a start. The Weathercock was again sounding the
warning, "Fire! Fire! Fire!"
"Where?" cried Marjorie, looking out of the porthole at the excited
Weathercock and then down to the deck, where at that moment Capt. Noah and
his sons appeared, each armed with a pail.
The fire evidently was at the forward end of the Ark, for Noah and his
crew ran in that direction.
It took Marjorie but a few minutes to dress, and just as she reached the
deck, Mr. Jonah appeared.
"This is a poor way to put out a fire," he said, as he tossed the water
from his pail down the hatchway, from which was rising a thick cloud of
smoke. "We need a hose and a pump."
"Hurry up, Jonah!" commanded Capt. Noah. "This fire is getting too much
headway to suit me. I'm afraid the animals will be roasted if we don't put
it out pretty soon!"
As he finished speaking the Elephant rushed on deck and, leaning over the
side of the Ark, filled his trunk with water, which he immediately
squirted over himself. And then Mrs. Elephant did the same.
"I was never so warm before," she remarked; "not even in India. If I had
stayed another minute below deck I would have been scarred for life!"
By this time the deck was crowded. Some of the animals were nearly
frightened to death; some were choking with the smoke, while others were
filling the air with noises of all kinds. It was as if pandemonium were
let loose.
Those animals which could climb were soon scrambling to the roof of the
Ark, where they sat on or clung desperately to the ridgepole.
The deck grew hotter and hotter, and it was necessary for every one to
dance about in order to keep his feet from blistering.
"Holy sufferin' mackerel!" exclaimed Capt. Noah, now realizing the
seriousness of the situation. "Are we to be burned at sea?"
"Get the Elephants to squirt water down the hold," suggested Ham.
"Get busy," said Capt. Noah to the Elephants. "Your trunks are nearly as
good as hose. Why don't you help us?"
"What do you say, Ella?" said the Elephant. "If we don't we may have to
swim later."
Without answering, she went forward and commenced drawing up the salt
water in her trunk and then sending it in a swift stream down into the
hold. The fire, however, was gaining fast, and in spite of the efforts of
the Elephants and the crew the danger increased to an alarming extent, and
at last the flames leaped forth and crawled over the deck.
The animals howled and rushed to the stern of the Ark, which raised the
bow high in the air, and thus added to the danger.
"If it would only rain!" said Mrs. Noah, who sat on a coil of rope, her
sealskin coat on her arm and her jewel box in her hand.
"If it would only rain! This can't be the forty-first day, can it? Time
does go so fast."
Well, I guess something terrible would have happened if just then all of a
sudden the Weathercock hadn't seen the Whale, who had landed Mr. Jonah
aboard, some two or three chapters ago.
"There's the Whale!" shouted the Weathercock. "See him spout!"
"Run up a signal of distress!" commanded Capt. Noah. "He might save Mr.
Jonah for old times' sake!"
"If he'd only get up close and spout water over the Ark, he'd put out the
fire pretty quick," said Ham.
"Good idea," said Capt. Noah. "Ship ahoy!" yelled Mr. Jonah, waving his
red bandanna handkerchief in the air. "Ahoy! Ahoy!"
Then the Whale stopped spouting and made for the Ark.
"He's coming! He's coming!" shouted the Weathercock.
"Don't stop squirting water," said Capt. Noah to the Elephants.
"On with the pail brigade!" screamed Ham. And then the monkeys slid down
from the roof and grabbed hold of the pails and threw water down the hold.
But still the cruel flames crept nearer and nearer.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Mrs. Noah. "I'm afraid my sealskin coat will get
singed, and after all the trouble I've had putting it up in camphor."
And then, all of a sudden, a tremendous stream of water fell upon the Ark,
soaking every one to the skin. And soon the deck was a river, and the
steam that came out of the hold almost suffocated everybody.
"Goodness me!" screamed Mrs. Noah. "We'll be swamped!"
"Hold on, there," shouted Capt. Noah, leaning over the side of the Ark,
where the Whale lay like a fire patrol boat in action. "Hold on! Turn off
the hose, or you'll drown us!"
So the good-natured Whale shut off the water, while Capt. Noah added: "A
Turkish bath has nothing on this!"
"It was awfully kind of you to come to our rescue," said Mrs. Noah,
smiling sweetly at the Whale as she leaned over the railing.
"Well, if you hadn't come just when you did," said Capt. Noah, "I guess
we'd all have gone down to Davey Jones' locker."
"Don't mention it," said the Whale. "Glad to have been able to do you a
little favor. You see," he added in a low voice, "Mr. Jonah was never
satisfied when he was my guest. He was always complaining about the
dampness. So when you came along and I had a chance to put him aboard the
Ark I was tickled to death. In fact, I was so glad to get rid of my
passenger that I made up this little poem," and then the Whale began to
spout:
"It's not so very pleasant, when sailing on the sea,
To have a passenger aboard who's sulky as can be;
And that's the reason, after dark,
I landed him aboard the Ark."
And after that he swam away, and the Ark began once more to skim over the
dark blue sea. And by and by, after a while, Capt. Noah said:
"We'll have to make new bunks and berths for the animals, I guess, for the
fire has burned up everything."
And, oh, dear me! When he went below he saw that everything was burned to
a cinder.
"We'll have to land somewhere and make repairs," said Mr. Jonah.
"I guess we will," said Capt. Noah, and all the animals began to howl and
make dreadful noises, for they didn't want to go down in the smoky hold,
you see.
And just then all of a sudden the Weathercock called out:
"Land to starboard!"
And, sure enough, looming up in the dim distance was a mountainous shore
line.
[Illustration: The Squirrel came aboard with a bag of nuts.]