motion over the long swell, and still drifting lazily to the
eastward; her bows heading now this way, now that; her fore-mast burned
through and towing over the side; and the flames in complete possession
of her as far aft as the main-mast.

Walford's sleep, if such it could be called, lasted all through the
night and until just before the dawn. Then the overpowering heat and
smoke, the loud crackling roar of the flames, and the fierce ruddy light
streaming into the saloon and through the open state-room door aroused
him. Sitting up in his berth, he looked around him in a bewildered way,
passing his hand impatiently over his brow repeatedly, as if striving to
recall distinctly the remembrance of something vaguely haunting his
memory, but ever eluding his mental grasp. Glancing vacantly around
him, the red glare of the flames fascinated his gaze, and he turned to
watch the leaping, flickering flashes of light as they came and went
with the sway and roll of the ship.

"Red," he began to mutter, "red as blood. Blood? Who said that I had
been the cause of bloodshed? Who dares to say that it is my hand which
has splashed those walls--that floor--with such hideous stains? Ha! see
how they leap and dance, rise and fall; the place is full of them.
Horrible! horrible! Are they there to taunt me, to reproach me, to
accuse me? I say I did _not_ do it; I am not to blame. How could I
know that--that--what was it? Let me think. `His blood is upon your
hands.' Whose hands? Not mine, I swear; I could not do it; I have not
the nerve, the courage for it. `His blood is upon your hands.' Who
said that? It was not said to _me_. But stay--_was_ I to blame--_was_
it my fault? Ugh! what a terrible thing it was to see him standing
there with the rope round his neck, to know that they were going to take
away his life for a fault which perhaps he would never have committed
but for _me_, and to feel that I had not the courage to intercede in his
behalf; to stand there quaking with fear whilst _he_ was driven to his
death. No, no; _I_ did not drive him to it; it was they; and I had no
control over them--but--but--ah! I never tried to save him. Yes, yes,
I am coming. Is that you, Thomson? Are you calling _me_?"

He sprang out of his berth, and, making his way through the captain's
cabin, passed out on deck. The first faint rays of the approaching dawn
were lighting up the eastern horizon; but he saw them not; they were
ef