handle the skulkers. They did not spare
themselves in driving, and at salving the gear in the lamp-room the
Captain made a weird picture, black and grimy, with a cloth over his
mouth, passing the lamps out to the boys.

With such a volume of water pouring below, it was necessary to get a
pump in position to keep our craft afloat. She was now far down by the
head and had a heavy list, and as the ship's pumps would not draw, the
Firemaster arranged to put one of his pumps into the fore-peak. To
make this efficient, we had to raise the sluice in the forrard
bulkhead; and even the Old Man looked anxious when the Carpenter
reported that the sluice was jammed, and that the screw had broken in
his hands. The stream of water into the hold was immediately stopped,
and all available hands (few enough we were) were put to clearing the
fore-peak, that the sluice could be got at. In this compartment all
the ship's spare gear and bos'un's stores were kept, and the lower hold
held ten tons of the ship's coal. The small hatchway made despatch
impossible, and the want of a winch was keenly felt. It was
back-breaking work, hauling up the heavy blocks, the cordage, sails and
tarpaulins, chains, kegs and coils, and dragging them out on deck. A
suffocating atmosphere and foul gases below showed that the seat of the
fire was not far off, and often the workers were dragged up in a
semi-conscious state. The Mate was the first to go down, and he hung
out till nature rebelled, and he was dragged up and put in the open
air. There the aggrieved Belgian saw him, and, maddened by drink, took
advantage of his exhaustion to kick him viciously in the ribs; but
Jones promptly laid the Dutchman out with a hand-spike.

In a moment the drink, discontent, excitement, and overwork found vent
in furious riot: shipmates of five months' standing, comrades in fair
weather and foul, were at each other's throats, and amid the smoke and
steam no man could name his enemy. Welsh John, in trying to get young
Munro out of harm's way, was knocked down the open hatch, and he lay,
groaning, with a broken arm, amid the steam and stench. Hicks, the
bo'sun, was stabbed in the cheek, and someone knocking the lamps over,
added darkness to the vicious conflict. Blind and blaspheming, animals
all, we fought our way to the doors, and the malcontents, in ill plight
themselves, cared little to follow us.

Meantime the Firemaster, seeing how matters stood, called his