THE FLAMING SHIP
The captain came in hurriedly and read the message. He figured out the
position.
"She's all of sixty miles away," he said, looking up from his
calculation, "and even under forced draught we can't reach her in less
than three hours. Tell her we're coming," he ordered, and hurried out to
give the necessary directions.
The course of the ship was altered at once, the engines were signaled
for full speed ahead, and with her furnaces roaring, she rushed through
the night to the aid of her sister vessel, sorely beset by the most
dreaded peril of the sea.
In the mean time Bert had clicked off the message: "We've got you, old
man. Ship, _Fearless_, Captain Manning. Longitude 125:20, latitude
36:54. Will be with you in three hours. Cheer up. If you're not
disabled, steam to meet us."
Quickly the answer came back: "Thank God. Fighting the fire, but it's
getting beyond us. Hasn't reached the engine room yet, but may very
soon. Hurry."
In short, jerky sentences came the story of the disaster. The steamer
was the _Caledonian_, a tramp vessel, plying between Singapore and San
Francisco. There was a heavy cargo and about forty passengers. A little
while since, they had detected fire in the hold, but had concealed the
fact from the passengers and had tried to stifle it by their own
efforts. It had steadily gained, however, despite their desperate work,
until the flames burst through the deck. A wild panic had ensued, but
the captain and the mates had kept the upper hand. The crew had behaved
well, and the boats were ready for launching if the worst came to the
worst. The fire was gaining. "Hurry. Captain says----"
Then the story ceased. Bert called and called again. No answer. The boys
looked at each other.
"The dynamo must have gone out of commission," said Bert. "I can't get
him. The flames may have driven him out of the wireless room."
All were in an agony of suspense and fear. It seemed as though they
crept, although the ship shook with the vibration of its powerful
engines, working as they had never worked before. The _Fearless_ was
fairly flying, as though she knew the fearful need of haste.
Outside of the wireless room, none of the passengers knew of the
disaster. Most of them had retired, and, if the few who were still up
and about sensed anything unusual, the discipline of the ship kept
questions unspoken. All the officers and the crew, however, were on the
alert and tingling with the strain, and every eye was turned toward the
distant horizon, to catch the first glimpse of the burning vessel.
Out into the night, Bert sent his call desperately, hoping to raise some
other ship nearer to the doomed steamer than the _Fearless_, but in
vain. He caught a collier, three hundred miles away, and a United States
gunboat, one hundred and sixty miles distant, but, try as he would,
there was nothing nearer. Nobody but themselves could attempt the
rescue. Of course, there was the chance that some sailing vessel, not
equipped with wireless, might come upon the scene, but this was so
remote that it could be dismissed from consideration.
More than half the distance had been covered when Dick, who had stepped
outside, came running in.
"Come on out, fellows," he cried, excitedly. "We can see a light in the
sky that we think must come from the fire."
They followed him on the run. There, sure enough, on the distant
horizon, was a deep reddish glow, that seemed to grow brighter with
every passing moment. At times, it waned a trifle, probably obscured by
smoke, only to reappear more crimson than ever, as the vessel drew
nearer.
"How far off do you suppose it is now?" asked Tom.
"Not more than fifteen miles, I should think," answered Bert. "We'll be
there in less than an hour now, if we can keep up this pace."
The _Fearless_ flew on, steadily cutting down the distance, and now the
sky was the color of blood. Everything had been gotten in readiness for
the work of rescue. The boats had been cleared and hung in their davits,
ready to be lowered in a trice. Lines of hose were prepared, not so much
with the hope of putting out the fire as to protect their own vessel
from the flying brands. Every man of the crew was at his appointed
place. Since the wireless could no longer be used to send messages of
encouragement, rockets were sent up at intervals to tell the
unfortunates that help was coming.
"Look!" cried Tom. "That was an actual flash I saw that time."
Gradually these became more frequent, and now the upper part of the
vessel came into view, wreathed in smoke and flame. Soon the hull
appeared, and then they could get a clear idea of the catastrophe.
The whole forward part of the vessel was a seething mass of fire. The
engines had been put out of commission, and the hull wallowed helplessly
at the mercy of the waves. The officers and crew, fighting to the last,
had been crowded aft, and the stern was black with passengers huddled
despairingly together. The supply of boats had been insufficient, and
two of these had been smashed in lowering. Two others, packed to the
guards, had been pushed away from the vessel, so as not to be set on
fire by the brands that fell in showers all around. Near the stern, some
of the sailors were hastily trying to improvise a raft with spars and
casks. They were working with superhuman energy, but, hampered as they
were by the frantic passengers, could make but little progress. And all
the time the pitiless flames were coming nearer and nearer, greedily
licking up everything that disputed their advance. It was a scene of
anguish and of panic such as had never been dreamed of by the breathless
spectators who crowded the bow of the _Fearless_, as it swiftly swept
into the zone of light and prepared to lower its boats.
Suddenly there was a great commotion visible on the flaming ship. They
had seen their rescuers. Men shouted and pointed wildly; women screamed
and fell on their knees in thanksgiving. The boats already in the water
gave way and made for the _Fearless_. The sailors stopped work upon the
raft, now no longer needed, and turned to with the officers who were
striving desperately to keep the more frenzied passengers from plunging
headlong into the sea and swimming to the steamer. Their last refuge in
the stern had grown pitifully small now, and the flames, gathering
volume as they advanced, rushed toward them as though determined not to
be balked of the prey that had seemed so surely in their grasp.
It was a moment for quick action, and Captain Manning rose to the
occasion. In obedience to his sharp word of command, the sailors tumbled
into the boats, and these were dropped so smartly that they seemed to
hit the water together. Out went the oars and away they pulled with all
the strength and practised skill of their sinewy arms. Bert and Dick
were permitted to go as volunteers in the boat of Mr. Collins, the first
mate, who had given his consent with some reluctance, as he had little
faith in any but regular sailors in cases of this kind; and his boat was
the first to reach the vessel and round to under the stern.
"Women and children first," the unwritten law of the sea, was strictly
enforced, and they were lowered one by one, until the boat sat so low in
the water that Mr. Collins ordered his crew to back away and let the
next one take its place. Just as it got under way, a woman holding a
baby in her arms, frantic with fright as she saw the boat leaving, broke
away from the restraining hand of a sailor, and leaped from the stern.
She missed the gig, which was fortunate, as she would certainly have
capsized it, heavily laden as it already was, and fell into the water.
In an instant Bert, who could swim like a fish, had plunged in and
grabbed her as she rose to the surface. A few strokes of the oars and
they were hauled aboard, and the boat made for the ship. Collins,
a taciturn man, looked his approval but said nothing at the time,
although, in a talk with the captain afterwards, he went so far as to
revise his opinion of volunteers and to admit that an able seaman could
have done no better.
The rest of the passengers were quickly taken off and then came the turn
of the officers and crew. The captain was the last to leave the devoted
vessel, and it was with a warm grasp of sympathy and understanding that
Captain Manning greeted him as he came over the side. He was worn with
the strain and shaken with emotion. He had done all that a man could do
to save his ship, but fate had been too strong for him and he had to bow
to the inevitable. He refused to go below and take some refreshment,
but stood with knitted brows and folded arms watching the burning
steamer that had carried his hopes and fortunes. They respected his
grief and left him alone for a time, while they made arrangements for
the homeless passengers and crew.
These were forlorn enough. They had saved practically no baggage and
only the most cherished of their personal belongings. Some had been
badly burned in their efforts to subdue the flames, and all were at the
breaking point from excitement and fatigue. The doctors of both ships
were taxed to the utmost, administering sedatives and tonics and
dressing the wounds of the injured. By this time the passengers of the
_Fearless_ had, of course, been roused by the tumult, and men and women
alike vied with each other in aiding the unfortunates. Cabins and
staterooms were prepared for the passengers, while quarters in the
forecastle were provided for the crew who, with the proverbial stolidity
and fatalism of their kind, soon made themselves at home, taking the
whole thing as a matter of course. They had just been at hand-grips with
death; but this had occurred to them so often that they regarded it
simply as an incident of their calling.
There was no thought of sleep for Bert that night. The sounder crashed
and the blue flames leaped for hours in the wireless room. The operator
of the _Caledonian_ volunteered to help him, but Bert wouldn't hear of
it and sent him to his bunk, where, after the terrific strain, he was
soon in the sleep of utter exhaustion.
Then Bert called up the San Francisco station and told his story. The
owners of the ship were notified that the vessel and cargo were a total
loss, but that all the passengers had been saved. They sent their thanks
to Captain Manning and then wirelessed for details. Mr. Quinby, of
course, was called into the conference. Now that it was settled that
no lives had been lost, the most important question was as to the
disposition of passengers and crew. They had been making for San
Francisco, but naturally it was out of the question for the _Fearless_
to relinquish her voyage and take them into port.
Three courses were open. They could go to Hawaii, the first stopping
place, and there take the first steamer leaving for San Francisco. Or
they could depend on the chance of meeting some vessel homeward bound,
to which they could transship before reaching Honolulu. Or Bert could
send his call abroad through his wireless zone and perhaps arrange for
some ship coming toward them to sail along a certain course, meet them
at a given location and there take charge of the _Caledonian's_ people.
In that case, the owners, of course, would expect to recompense them
handsomely for their time and trouble.
As the survivors were desperately anxious to reach home and friends at
the earliest possible moment, Bert was instructed to follow the latter
course and do his utmost to raise some approaching vessel. For a long
time his efforts were fruitless. His call flew over the ocean wastes but
awoke no answering echo. At last, however, well toward morning, his
eager ear caught a responsive click. It came from the _Nippon_, one of
the trans-Pacific liners plying between Yokohama and San Francisco. She
was less than four hundred miles away and coming on a line slightly east
of the _Fearless_. The situation was explained, and after the captains
of the two steamers had carried on a long conversation, it was agreed
that the _Nippon_ should take charge of the survivors. They would
probably meet late that afternoon, and arrangements were made to keep
each other informed hourly of pace and direction, until they should come
in sight.
Bert breathed a huge sigh of relief when that question was settled. But
his work was not yet done. He must notify the United States Government
of the presence of the derelict as a menace to navigation. The
_Caledonian_ had lost all its upper works and part of the hull had been
consumed. But the waves breaking over it as it lurched from side to side
had kept it from burning to the water's edge, and it now tossed about, a
helpless hulk right in the lane of ships. So many vessels have been lost
by coming in collision with such floating wrecks at night, that the
Government maintains a special line of gunboats, whose one duty is to
search them out and blow them up with dynamite. Bert gave the exact
latitude and longitude to the San Francisco operator, who promised to
forward it at once to the Navy Department at Washington.
Then, at last, Bert leaned back in his chair and relaxed. The strain
upon heart and nerve and brain had been tremendous. But he had "stood
the gaff." The first great test had been nobly met. Cool, clever,
self-reliant, he had not flinched or wavered under the load of
responsibility. The emergency had challenged him and he had mastered it.
In this work, so new to him, he had kept his courage and borne himself
as a veteran of the key.
He patted the key affectionately. Good old wireless! How many parts it
had played that night and how well! Telling first of pain and terror
and begging for help; then cheerily sending hope and comfort and promise
of salvation. Without it, the dawn would now be breaking on two small
boats and a flimsy raft, crowded with miserable refugees and tossing up
and down on the gray waves that threatened to engulf. Now they were
safe, thank God, warm and snug and secure, soon to be called to the
abundant breakfast, whose savory odors already assailed his nostrils.
And now the whole world knew of the disaster and the rescue; and the
machinery of the Government was moving with reference to that abandoned
hulk; and a great ship was bounding toward them over the trackless waste
to meet at a given place and time and take the survivors back to country
and home and friends and love and life. It was wonderful, mysterious,
unbelievable----
A touch upon his shoulder roused him from his reverie, and he looked up,
to see the captain standing beside him.
"You've done great work this night, Wilson," he said, smiling gravely,
"and I'll see that the owners hear of it. But now you must be dead
tired, and I want you to get your breakfast and turn in for a while.
I'll get Howland, the wireless man of the _Caledonian_, to hold things
down for a few hours, while you get a rest. I've told the cook to get a
bite ready for you and then I want you to tumble in."
The "bite" resolved itself into a capacious meal of steak and eggs,
reinforced by fragrant coffee, after which, obeying orders, he rolled
into his bunk and at once fell into deep and dreamless sleep.
Meanwhile, the ship awoke to the life of a new day. The sun streamed
down from cloudless skies and a spanking breeze blew over the quarter.
The air was like wine and to breathe it was an inspiration. The sea
smiled and dimpled as its myriad waves reflected back the glorious
light. The _Fearless_ slipped through the long swells as swiftly as a
water sprite, "footing it featly" on her road to Hawaii, the Paradise of
the Pacific. Everything spoke of life and buoyancy, and the terrible
events of the night before might well have been a frightful nightmare
from which they had happily awakened.
There were grim reminders, however, that it had been more than a dream
in the hurrying doctors, the bandaged hands and faces, the haggard
features of the men and the semi-hysterical condition of some of the
women. But there had been no death or mortal injury. The Red Death had
gazed upon them with its flaming eyes and scorched them with its baleful
breath, but they had not been consumed. There were property losses, but
no wife had been snatched from her husband, no mother wailed for her
child. Under the comforting influence of a hot breakfast, the heartfelt
sympathy of the passengers and the invigorating air and sunshine, they
gradually grew more cheerful. After all, they were alive, snatched by a
miracle from a hideous death; and how could or dared they complain of
minor ills? The tension relaxed as the hours wore on, and by the time
that Bert, after a most refreshing sleep, appeared again on deck the
scene was one of animation and almost gaiety.
Straight to the wireless room he went, to be met on the threshold by
Dick and Tom and Ralph, who gathered around him in tumultuous greeting.
"Bully for you, old man," cried Dick. "We hear that you did yourself
proud last night."
"Yes," chimed in Ralph. "I wouldn't dare to tell you what Father says in
a message I've just received, or you'd have a swelled head, sure."
"Nonsense," answered Bert. "I simply did what it was up to me to do.
Good morning, Mr. Howland," he said, as the young fellow seated at the
key rose to greet him. "How are things going?"
"Just jogging along," answered Howland. "I guess you cleaned up about
everything before you turned in. We're getting beyond the shore range,
but I've been keeping in touch every hour with the _Nippon_. The captain
figures that we'll get together at about four this afternoon."
The former operator of the _Caledonian_ was a well set-up, clear-eyed
young fellow, about the age of Bert and his chums, and a liking sprang
up between them at once. With the recuperative power of youth he had
almost entirely recovered from the events of the night before, although
his singed hair and eyebrows bore eloquent testimony to the perils he
had faced and so narrowly escaped. He had stuck to his post until the
blistering heat had made life impossible in the wireless room, and then
had done yeoman's work in aiding the officers and crew to fight the fire
and maintain order among the passengers. The boys listened with keenest
interest, while he went over in graphic style his personal experiences.
"I can't tell you how I felt when I got your message," he said, as he
turned to Bert. "I had about given up hope when your answer came. I
rushed at once to the captain and he passed the word to the passengers
and crew. It put new heart and life into them all, and it was the only
thing that kept many from jumping into the sea when the flames got so
horribly near. But they held on desperately, and when they saw your
rockets I wish you could have heard the cry that went up. They knew then
that it was only a matter of minutes before your boats would be under
the stern. But it was fearfully close figuring," he went on, soberly.
"You saw yourself that fifteen minutes after the last boat pulled away
the whole stern was a mass of flames."
"Well," said Bert, as he slipped on the receiver, and took charge of the
key, "it's lucky that I got your call just when I did. A little later
and I'd have been off duty."
"That reminds me," broke in Ralph. "I sent a message to Father to-day
about that, urging that you have an assistant to take charge when you
are at meals or in bed. I suggested, too, that since Mr. Howland was
here, he might be willing to go on with us and act as your assistant. He
says he is agreeable if they want him to, and I expect a wireless from
Father to the captain authorizing him to make the arrangement."
"I hope he will," said Bert, warmly. "Accidents have an awkward way of
happening just when they ought not to, and when one thinks of the life
and property at stake it certainly seems that somebody should be on the
job all the time."
A little later the looked-for message came instructing Captain Manning
to engage Howland as Bert's deputy during the voyage. From now on, there
would not be one moment of the twenty-four hours that someone would not
be on watch to send or receive, much to Bert's relief and delight. Now
he could breathe freely and enjoy his work, without any torturing fears
of what might have happened while he slept.
By half-past three that afternoon the ships were within twenty miles of
each other. The beautiful weather still continued and the sea was as
"calm as a millpond." All were on the alert to greet the oncoming
steamer. Soon a dot appeared, growing rapidly larger until it resolved
itself into a magnificent steamer, seven hundred feet in length, with
towering masts and deck piled on deck, crowded with dense masses of
people. She made a stately picture as she came on until a quarter of a
mile from the _Fearless_. Then she hove to and lowered her boats.
With deep emotion and the warmest thanks, the survivors bade their
rescuers good-by and were carried over to the _Nippon_, their third
temporary home within twenty-four hours. By the time the last boat had
unloaded and been swung on board, dusk had fallen. The ships squared
away on their separate courses and the bells in the engine room
signaled full speed ahead. Handkerchiefs waved and whistles tooted as
they passed each other, and the white-coated band on the upper deck of
the _Nippon_ played "Home Again." The electric lights were suddenly
turned on and the great ship glowed in beauty from stem to stern. They
watched her as she drew swiftly away, until her gleaming lights became
tiny diamonds on the horizon's rim and then faded into the night.