"Be careful," cried Mr Brymer. "Keep back so that the fumes don't
overcome you, and call out if you want help."
I nodded, and he hurried forward, while as I stood there in the hot
sunshine waiting for the water to come, I directed the nozzle so as to
strike one particular part of the smouldering ruins just beside where
the great spiral of smoke rose up.
The next minute clink-clank came the strokes of the double-handled pump,
invisible to me, for it was on the far side of the smoke which rose from
the forward part of the deck. But no water came, and after a minute or
two I heard them talking loudly, and the clanking ceased. Then came the
splash of a bucket over the side, and though I could see nothing, I
could picture the throwing down of that bucket, and the handing of it up
with the sparkling of the water as it streamed back; and I knew what the
gurgling and splashing meant, as the contents freshly drawn were poured
into the top of the pump.
Then the clanking began again, and I waited listening to the steady
working up and down of the handles, and the strange, gasping, sucking
sounds which rose hollowly from the piston.
But still no water came, and I listened to the splash of the bucket as
the process of filling the big barrel of the pump was repeated. Then
clang-clank again, with gurgling, hissing, and splashing; and I felt
that the pump must be broken or worn-out.
"They will have to take to the buckets," I said half-aloud; and in fancy
I saw what a slow, laborious task that would be, and how hopeless it was
to imagine that, short-handed as we were, we could cope with that
terrible fire steadily eating its way down through the cargo, and which
would certainly before long burst forth with uncontrollable fury.
"It's all over," I said to myself; and my heart sank once more as I
began to think that we ought before long to get back to the boat, and
trust to it alone, for although open and comparatively frail, it would
not have a terrible enemy on board, insidiously waiting to destroy us.
"Oh, how disappointing!" I muttered, as I passed the metal nozzle from
my right to my left hand, so as to wipe the perspiration from my face,
when all at once there was a quick, throbbing sensation; something ran
through my left hand. There was a splash, a hiss, and a cry, and Mr
Preddle rushed back into the shelter of the main-mast, from behind which
he had suddenly appeared.
"Oh, I say, Mr Dale," he shouted, "you shouldn't!"
The stream of water had come with a sudden rush, and struck him full in
his smooth, plump, round face.
I tried to say, "I beg your pardon," but I was choking with laughter and
could not speak. But I could act, for I rapidly changed the nozzle back
to my right hand, and directed it down at the spot I had selected for my
attack, and as the clear, bright jet of water struck the smouldering
cargo the effect was startling.
That fire might almost have been some fierce, dragon-like monster,
suddenly attacked by its most deadly foe, for in an instant there was a
savage hiss, followed by a series of crackling explosions, sputtering,
popping, and shrieking even. For the steam began to generate and rush
up from the hold, instantaneously changing from its natural invisibility
to dense white clouds of vapour, which rose and spread, and grew so
thick that I could not see where to direct the jet of water, but had to
trust to my ear for the spot to attack.
"Hurray! hurray!" came faintly from forward, where the pump clanked
steadily; and I responded to the cheer, but my voice was stilled by the
hissing and shrieking arising from the hold. But I cheered again, and
kept on, feeling quite excited, and more and more as if I were attacking
a den of dragons, or serpents, so strangely unusual were the noises
which followed every fresh direction of the stream.
"I say, Dale, you shouldn't, you know," came from close by me, in a tone
full of protest; and I quite started to see Mr Preddle's face looming
out of the mist in which I was closely enveloped, and which grew more
and more dense each minute.
"I didn't do it on purpose," I shouted.
"Oh, don't say that, Dale," he cried back, the voice sounding very
peculiar through the hissing and shrieking of the steam. "I am quite
ready to forgive you, my dear boy."
"But I didn't really," I yelled.
"Oh, Dale, don't--don't! Why, I saw you take aim at me with that thing
across this dreadful gap."
"I--can't talk--now," I shouted. Then, contradicting myself,--"Going to
help pump?"
"Yes; but what a fearful noise!--and you have made me so wet."
"How are you getting on?" shouted Mr Frewen. "That's right."
I could not see him for the steam; but his voice came from the other
side of the deck, and I must have altered the direction of the jet a
little, for a fresh series of explosions arose to prove how much more
serious the hidden fire was than we could judge it to be from what was
visible.
Crick, crack, sputter, and then report after report, as loud as those
made by a revolver, while each steam-shot was followed by a ball of
white vapour which came rushing up as from the mouth of a gun.
"Hurrah!" came from by the pump again, and Mr Preddle came slowly along
to pass me and get forward.
"I suppose I can get by you," he said.
"No, no; don't try it," I cried excitedly. "I must not stir, and there
is so little room. Go back and round with Mr Frewen."
"No, no; I daren't."
"The fire isn't there," I said, as the screaming and hissing were louder
than ever.
"I'm not so much afraid of the fire as I am of the water," cried Mr
Preddle. "You want to squirt me again."
I couldn't say "I don't," for his words tickled and yet annoyed me, so
that I felt that I really did want to deluge him with the water from
head to foot.
"Will you promise me not to squirt if I go that way?" he shouted.
"Honour--bright," I yelled. "Couldn't see you."
That was a fact, for from cut of the hold, and spreading all over the
ship, the dense white fumes hid everything; and though Mr Preddle was
now only about a yard away, I could not see anything but a dim, blurred
patch; while facing me a dull, luminous disk all blurred and hidden from
time to time showed where the sun was dealing his slanting beams.
"Well, I'm going to trust you," said Mr Preddle, "and I beg you will
not do it again."
"All right," I shouted; and the next minute I felt that I was alone to
carry on the war against the enemy below.
"How stupid of him to think that!" I said aloud, with a laugh.
"I don't see anything stupid. It was stupid of you to play tricks at
such a time," said Mr Preddle.
"Why I thought you were gone," I shouted.
"No; I waited to see whether you were going to keep your word," he
replied; and then I heard no more till Mr Brymer shouted--
"Want any help, Dale?"
"No, sir."
"Steam too much for you?"
"No, sir; all right. I'll call if I want help."
The pump clanked steadily on, and without any more than a half-stoppage
as they made a change for resting, and I kept on searching out the
hottest places by following up the loudest hissing and sputtering of the
water as it changed into steam, and rose and floated upward till I
thought that if the mutineers were able to see it, they would conclude
that the ship was burning right away to the water's edge, for the steam,
as it floated up in that huge volume, would have all the appearance of
smoke.