FIRE AT SEA.
"At this moment, a moment that I shall never forget, I heard a sudden
crackling noise, strange and unexpected, coming from a point seemingly
close to me. I turned around and saw nothing. Nevertheless, I still
heard that sound in my ears. It was a strange sound. One might have
thought that an immense punch had been lighted in the interior of the
ship, and that the liquid, stirred up by invisible hands, was tossed up
and down, hissing and crackling. The quick movement of my head had
arrested George in the midst of his caresses. Now he looked up at me
with astonished eyes. The uneasiness which I felt in spite of the
absence of any cause must have appeared upon my face, for my wife,
standing beside me, leaned over to ask, in a subdued voice,--
"'What is the matter?'
"I think I answered, 'Nothing.' But my mind had dwelt upon an awful
danger,--that danger of which the most hardened seamen speak with a
beating heart,--fire at sea. Alas! my fears were to be realized. From
one of the hatches there suddenly leaped up a tongue of flame. At the
same instant we heard the awful cry, 'Fire!' To add to our distress, the
wind had increased, and had become so violent that it fanned the flames
with terrible rapidity, and had enveloped the state-rooms in the rear,
whence the passengers were running, trembling and crying. In a few
minutes the back of the ship was all on fire. My wife had snatched
George from my arms, and held him closely against her breast, ready to
save him or die with him. The captain, in the midst of the panic of the
passengers, gave his orders. The boats were being lowered into the
sea,--those at least which remained, for two had already been attacked
by the fire. Accident threw the captain between me and my wife at the
very moment when he was crying out to his men to allow none but the
women and children in the boats. He recognized me. I had been introduced
to him by a common friend, and he said, in a voice choked with emotion,
pointing to my wife and my son,--
"'Embrace them!'
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"Then he tore them both from my arms and pushed and carried them to the
last boat, which was already too full. Night had come. With the rise of
the wind, clouds had collected, obscuring the sky. By the light of the
fire I saw for the last time--yes, for the last time--my wife and my
child in the boat, shaken by an angry sea. Both were looking towards me.
Did they see me also for the last time? And in my agony I cried out,
'George! George!' with a voice so loud that my son must surely have
heard that last cry. Yes, he must have heard it. I stood rooted to the
spot, looking without seeing anything, stupefied by this hopeless
sorrow, not even feeling the intense heat of the flames, which were
coming towards me. But the captain saw me. He ran towards me, drew me
violently back, and threw me in the midst of the men, who were beginning
a determined struggle against the fire which threatened to devour them.
The instinct of life, the hope to see again my loved ones, gave me
courage. I did as the others. Some of the passengers applied themselves
to the chain; the pumps set in motion threw masses of water into the
fire; but it seemed impossible to combat it, for it was alcohol which
was burning. They had been obliged to repack part of the hold, where
there were a number of demijohns of alcohol which the bad weather the
first days had displaced. During the work one of these vast stone
bottles had fallen and broken. As ill luck would have it, the alcohol
descended in a rain upon a lamp in the story below, and the alcohol had
taken fire. So I had not been mistaken when the first sound had made me
think of the crackling of a punch. We worked with an energy which can
only be found in moments of this sort. The captain inspired us with
confidence. At one time we had hope. The flames had slackened, or at
least we supposed so; but in fact they had only gone another way, and
reached the powder-magazine. A violent explosion succeeded, and one of
the masts was hurled into the sea. Were we lost? No; for the engineer
had had a sudden inspiration. He had cut the pipes, and immediately
directed upon the flames torrents of steam from the engine. A curtain of
vapor lifted itself up between us and the fire, a curtain which the
flames could not penetrate. Then the pumps worked still more
effectually. We were saved."
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