he had been a soldier;" and he ran close to the hatchway as the buckets
of water were being handed steadily down, while the pumps clanked
heavily with the labour given by willing hands.

"Bravo, my lads!" cried Mr Gregory excitedly. "Cheerily ho! Now
then."

The men uttered a tremendous cheer, and another and another, and for the
next half-hour there was the clanking of the pumps, and the loud
slushing noise of the water being thrown below, and the hiss and rush of
the constant stream from the hose.

The next hatches were thrown open, risky as the proceeding was; but
without a current of air through the ship it would have been impossible
for those below to have kept on with their suffocating task.

For the first quarter of an hour the captain and those with him worked
like giants, and then came up, to be relieved by the mate and others,
those who had been below now passing the water.

But it was blind and helpless work, and when this had been going on for
about three-quarters of an hour, and the toilers were getting exhausted
by the heat and smoke, Mr Morgan came up and announced that the boats
were all ready, and this set four strong men at liberty to help with the
water.

The second-mate went down at once, and in a quarter of an hour was
relieved by the captain, who came up in turn, looking more stern than
Mark had ever seen before.

"I can't help feeling that we are wasting our energy," he said to Mr
Morgan. "We are not making the slightest impression."

"I'm afraid not," said the officer addressed. "The fire is increasing."

"Yes; and at any moment it may burst forth with a roar, Morgan,"
whispered the captain; "but for heaven's sake don't show that we think
so."

Another anxious quarter of an hour passed, and matters were evidently
growing worse. The water was passed down into the hold with unabated
vigour, the men working desperately, but the pillar of smoke which rose
from the hold grew thicker and thicker and half hid some of the flapping
sails, for now it had fallen quite a calm. From time to time Mark had
been to his mother, who was trying, with the major's wife, to whisper
hope and encouragement to Mary, the poor girl being horrified at the
idea of having to leave the ship in an open boat. But at last there
seemed to be no hope to whisper from one to the other. Men grew more
stern as they worked with savage energy; and in spite of the time which
had elapsed since the first alarm there had