was afire."

"Yes," said Mark; "the poor _Petrel_!"

"It was very horrid, gentlemen; for as I lay there I couldn't speak nor
move, only look up at the glare and blaze and sparks, and from where I
lay, afraid to stir in case they should chuck me overboard, I saw those
savage chaps go over the side and leave the ship; and then there was a
blow-up, or else it was before--I don't know, for I was all in a muddle
in my head and didn't know anything, only that it was getting hotter and
hotter; and at last I was in a sort of dream, feeling as if I was going
to be roasted."

"How horrible!" cried Mark.

"Yes, sir, it was horrid, for the masts ketched fire and burned right
up, and the great pieces of wood kept falling on the deck, and ropes
were all alight--and swinging about with the burning tar. I didn't
dream all that, for I see the big mast blazing from top to bottom, and
it fell over the side; and then the others went, and the spars was on
fire, and the booms at the sides. And at last, as the fire came nearer
and nearer, sir, I knew that if I lay there any longer I should be
burned to death, and I thought I'd move."

"And very wisely," said the major.

"Yes, sir; but I couldn't," said the stowaway. "I wanted badly, and
tried and tried, but I was much too weak. And that's what made it seem
like a dream; for the more I tried to creep out from under the sail, the
more I lay still, as if something held me back. And all the time there
was a puddle of melted pitch bubbling and running slowly toward me. My
face burned and my hands were scorched, the wood was crackling, and the
pitch rising up in blisters. And if the smoke had come my way I
couldn't have breathed; but it all went up with the flames and sparks.
But the heat--oh, the heat!"

"And you couldn't crawl out?"

"No, sir; couldn't move--couldn't raise a hand; and I lay there till I
couldn't bear it no longer, and tried to shriek out to the Malay chaps
to come and put me out of my misery, for I wanted to die then; and I'd
waited too long, for I couldn't even make a sound."

"And what happened next?" asked Mark, for the man had ceased speaking.

"Dunno, sir. One moment it was all fiery and scorching, the next I
seemed to go to sleep like, and didn't feel any more pain till I woke."

"Till you woke?" said the major.

"Well, yes, sir. It was like waking up, to find it was all dark, and
the wind blowing, and the rain coming down. Then the sea was roaring