The boat we were in rose as a long rolling swell which lifted the bows
passed under it and swept on, while I gazed in awe at the falling pieces
of burning wood, which were for the most part quenched in the sea,
though others floated and blazed, shedding plenty of rays of light, and
showing two boats being rowed with all the power of their occupants
right away from where the ship rocked slowly, half hidden by a dense
canopy of smoke which hung overhead.
The great waves of burning spirit were there no more. It was as if they
had suddenly been blown cut, and in their place there were volumes of
smoke, through which, dimly-seen, were sparks and patches of smouldering
wood. And as the burning pieces which were floating here and there
gradually died out, a strangely weird kind of gloom came over the scene,
which grew more and more dim till the sea was black once more, and the
sole light came from the ship--a feeble, lurid glow nearly hidden by
steam and smoke.
And now we were half-stifled by the smell of the exploded powder and the
steam evolved when the burning fragments fell in all directions, to be
quenched over acres of water around the ship. It was a dank,
hydrogenous odour, which made me hold my fingers to my nose till I
forgot it in the interest with which I watched the ship. For Mr Brymer
said sadly, but in a low voice, for fear that a boat should be within
hearing--
"Poor old girl! she ought to have had a few more voyages before this.
She'll go down directly."
But the minutes passed, and the ship still floated and burned slowly,
though it was a different kind of burning now. No soft floats of
spirit-blaze rose gently and silently, but little sluggish bits of fire
burned here and there where the tar had melted, and the flame was yellow
and the smoke black; in other places where the wood had caught there
were vicious hissings, spittings, and cracklings, as if it were hard
work to burn. And so hard did it seem in some places that the scraps of
wood gave it up as a bad job, and went out.
But there was plenty of mischief still in the hold, from whence a dense
body of smoke rose, the rolling volumes being dimly-seen by the
reflections cast upon them, and tingeing the suffocating vapour of a
dull red.
We sat there almost in perfect silence, watching the ship for quite an
hour; but though she was expected from moment to moment to heel over a
little first to one side, then to the other, she still floated upon an
even keel, and her masts with their unfilled sails retained their
places. But we dared go no nearer for fear of the death-agonies of the
monster coming on, and our being sucked down into the vortex she made as
she plunged beneath the sea which had borne her triumphantly so many
times in the past.
The desire was strong amongst us to begin talking, but Mr Brymer
forbade a word being spoken.
"Jarette may be waiting somewhere close at hand with his two boats, till
he has seen the last of the ship. We have had troubles enough; we do
not want to increase them by a fresh encounter with the scoundrel."
So there we sat watching, with the dull smouldering still going on in
the hold of the ship. Sometimes it flashed up a little, and promised to
blaze fiercely; but it was only a spasmodic attempt, and it soon settled
down again to the dull smouldering, with a few vicious sparks rising
here and there to hide themselves in the dull, rolling clouds, and we
were in momentary expectation of seeing the vapour-enshrouded masts
begin to describe arcs in the cloud, and then slowly settle down after
the sinking vessel. And as I watched and calculated, I seemed to see
the water rising slowly around the faintly-marked black hull, till it
covered the ports, reached the deck, and then began to pour over into
the burning hold, when of course there would be a fierce hissing, steam
would rise in volumes, which would cover the clouds of smoke, and then
all would be over, and we should be left on the wide ocean to try and
fight our way to the land.
How dim the sparks and tiny, darting flames grew, and how black the
ship! I listened for the splash of oars, and the sound of voices; but I
heard neither for a time, and then only in faint whisperings, whose
import I could not grasp.
Then our silence was broken by a slight moaning, for the doctor had gone
to attend Walters, where he still lay insensible; and after that I
faintly grasped the fact that in that darkness aft Mr Frewen had been
attending to the captain and to Mr Denning. But I knew it all in a
very misty way, and then I knew nothing whatever, for everything was a
blank till I started up excitedly, and Mr Brymer said--
"Steady, my lad, steady; nobody is going to throw you overboard."
I had been asleep for hours, and I moved out of the way now, feeling
ashamed to look round; but when I did, it was to see that Mr Brymer, I,
and two more were the only people awake.
"Then the ship hasn't sunk," I said, as I looked at her about five
hundred yards away, with a pillar of smoke rising out of her hold, and
the masts, yards, and sails all in their places intact.
"Yes; she still floats," said Mr Brymer, quietly; "and we are going
closer to see how she stands."
"Where are Jarette and the men?"
"They rowed away to the east," replied Mr Brymer, "and are quite out of
sight."
"Then we can talk aloud," I cried.
"Ay, and shout if you like."
It was morning, and there were signs of the sun being just about to roll
up above the smooth sea, as the men gently dipped their oars so as not:
to waken the sleepers, and the boat began to move softly toward the
ship.
"It is a puzzle to me that she has not gone down, Dale," said Mr
Brymer, in a low voice. "That explosion was enough to drive out her
sides, as well as rip up her deck; and I am beginning to think that
after all she may float."
"But she is on fire still," I said; "and though burning slowly, the fire
must be eating its way through the bottom."
"Perhaps not, my lad," he replied. "There was an immense amount of
cargo solidly stowed below, and it may be only that which is burning."
"But you will not venture to go on board?" I said.
"Why not, my lad?"
"She may suddenly sink."
"She does not look now as if she would; at all events not during this
calm. Yes; I am going on board, and you may come too if you like."
I looked at him wonderingly, and felt a strange shrinking; but I fancied
that I could detect a faint smile at the corner of his lip, and this
touched me home, and made me speak at once.
"Very well," I said. "I'll go with you, sir."
"That's right, my lad," he said, laying his hand on my shoulder. "Why,
Dale, you will be chief mate of some ship, young as you are, almost
before I get to be captain. But we won't waste time passing
compliments. What should you say if we find that the old ship is strong
enough to carry us into port?"
"Oh, it is impossible," I cried.
"Not so impossible perhaps after all; but we are getting near, and we'll
see."
"But suppose she is so near sinking that the addition of our weight
proves to be enough to make her begin settling down?"
"Well, I should be greatly surprised if it did," he said with a smile.
"But we'll be on the safe side. As soon as we mount on deck through the
cabin-window, the boat shall be backed out of the way of danger, and our
first task shall be to cut loose a couple of the life-buoys. Then, if
the ship drags us down, we shall be sure to rise again and float."
I could not help a shudder at the idea of being dragged down in such a
horrible vortex, perhaps to be entangled in some part of the rigging,
and never rise again; and seeing what I was thinking, Mr Brymer
laughed.
"No fear, my lad. She will not sink now, unless there is a storm;
perhaps not even then. Row right round, my lads," he continued to Bob
Hampton and Barney; and we made a circuit of the ship, passing from
astern right forward, without the hull showing any damage; and though
Mr Brymer touched her just about opposite to where the principal body
of smoke arose, there was no perceptible heat to be felt. Then as we
pressed on under the bowsprit, I looked up at the bob-stay and the
rigging about that spritsail where I had climbed; and we began to go
back on the other side, to find the hull intact, and no sign of damage,
but here the side was decidedly warm. Then on to the stern and under
the first window, where a rope was still hanging out.
"Will you go first, Dale, or shall I?" said Mr Brymer.
For answer I began to climb, and in a very short time reached the window
and crept in.
Then the rope was drawn taut again, and the mate climbed in after me,
turned, and spoke gently--
"Row aft about a hundred yards, my lads. It is only for form's sake."
And as the men began to paddle gently away, he said to me quietly--
"There is no fear of her going down, Dale, for many hours, if at all. I
want to see what damage there is forward, and whether we can come aboard
and attack the fire with any chance of success."
"But shall we not be safer in the boat?" I said.
"Most decidedly not. And fancy, boy, there are three sick and wounded
people, and a lady! It is our duty to study them, and besides, after
all, we may save the ship."
This sent a thrill of enthusiasm through me as we passed out of the
cabin, littered with all kinds of stores and fittings, out along the
damaged saloon, and thence through the companion on to the deck, which
was blackened with pieces of burnt wood, scraps of a heterogeneous kind
that had probably been sent skyward by the explosions, to fall back
half-charred.
The smell of burnt powder now was terrible, and I could not help
stopping.
"What is it?" said Mr Brymer.
"Do you think there is any more powder below?" I said, as I thought of
the possibility of another explosion.
"Indeed I don't," said the mate, decisively. "Not a grain. It is all
honest fire, my lad, smouldering away in the cargo, and waiting for a
little encouragement in the shape of wind to burst out into an
unconquerable blaze."
We had been advancing again through the charred embers and fragments, to
stand at last by a large ragged cavity, torn up in the deck. The whole
of the hatches and combings were blasted away, and a clean sweep had
been made for fully thirty feet onward, and twenty or so across; and
everywhere was of a blackish grey, showing the effects of the
blasting-powder. Still there was room enough on both sides to walk
along by the hole; and as we looked down we could see that, in spite of
the destruction, with one exception the great cross-beams which
supported the deck were intact.
"She will not sink, Dale," said the mate, quietly; and as a feeling of
confidence on that question made me feel better, the fire suddenly
flamed up in one place, burning briskly with a good deal of crackling
and sputtering, making me feel doubtful of the ship's stability on that
side.