aid Chips. Johnson echoed
this sentiment.

"An' I knew ye ware up to somethin' of the kind when ye went below,"
said Jenks, "fer I smelled the smoke and thought to stop it, but there
ware too much risk as it was to add fire, so I had to step out o' the
crowd an' jine ye. I never did nothin' in the fracas, as ye know, except
get hurt."

In ten minutes we were close aboard the derelict, and her cabin was a
mass of flame. Figures of men showed against the light amidships, and I
finally made out all hands getting out a spar and barrels to make a raft.
The oil in the cargo, however, was too quick for them. It had become
ignited aft and had cut off all retreat by the stove-in boat. Several
explosions followed, and the flames roared high above the maintopsail.
Journegan, Andrews, and another man were seen making their way forward
across the sunken deck. The heat drove them to the topgallant forecastle
and in a few minutes we could see all standing there near the windlass.
The bitts sheltered them from the heat.

The oil in the ship was not submerged in the after part, owing to her
trimming by the head. It had been the last stuff put aboard and was well
up under her cabin deck. Even that which was awash caught after the fire
had started to heat things up well, and the entire after part of the
_Sovereign_ was a mass of flames. They gave forth a brilliant light,
glowing red and making the sky appear dark beyond. Great clouds of sparks
from the woodwork above soared into the heavens. The light must have been
visible for miles.

There was absolutely no escape for the men aboard now, except by getting
away on some float. Journegan, Dalton, and England were working hard at
something on the forecastle which appeared to be a raft. The one they had
started aft they had been forced to abandon after an explosion. The
carpenter's tools being below in the hold when the ship filled, they had
nothing but their knives and a small hatchet left to work with.

Suddenly Mr. Bell made us out in the darkness less than a quarter
of a mile distant. He screamed for us to come back and take him off
the derelict.

"Pay no attention to him," said Chips.

I hesitated, with the tiller in my hand. The end of those men seemed so
horrible that I forgot for the instant what they had done.

"You shall not go back for them while I'm aboard this boat," said Miss
Sackett, quietly, from her seat beside me, and she seized the tiller
firmly to luff the craft