truggle on the surface of the water,
I could not help feeling what power that man had over his companions,
and what a leader he might have proved had he devoted himself to some
good cause.

By this time the boats were right under the stern, and as I watched the
lighted-up window one moment, the glistening, motionless water the next,
I saw Jarette climb out, rope in hand, and glide down into the darkness.

"How horrible!" I thought, as the cold perspiration gathered on my
face--"only a minute or two, and one of these men living, the next--
dead."

And then I leaped up in the boat and fell back, for from the ship a
terrific rush of flame sprang up skyward, mounting higher and higher,
far above the tops of the masts as it appeared to me; and then, as the
fire curved over in every direction, there was a terrible concussion,
and all instantaneously a short sharp roar as of one tremendous clap of
thunder, cut short before it had had time to roll.

CHAPTER FORTY ONE.

The boat we were in rose as a long rolling swell which lifted the bows
passed under it and swept on, while I gazed in awe at the falling pieces
of burning wood, which were for the most part quenched in the sea,
though others floated and blazed, shedding plenty of rays of light, and
showing two boats being rowed with all the power of their occupants
right away from where the ship rocked slowly, half hidden by a dense
canopy of smoke which hung overhead.

The great waves of burning spirit were there no more. It was as if they
had suddenly been blown cut, and in their place there were volumes of
smoke, through which, dimly-seen, were sparks and patches of smouldering
wood. And as the burning pieces which were floating here and there
gradually died out, a strangely weird kind of gloom came over the scene,
which grew more and more dim till the sea was black once more, and the
sole light came from the ship--a feeble, lurid glow nearly hidden by
steam and smoke.

And now we were half-stifled by the smell of the exploded powder and the
steam evolved when the burning fragments fell in all directions, to be
quenched over acres of water around the ship. It was a dank,
hydrogenous odour, which made me hold my fingers to my nose till I
forgot it in the interest with which I watched the ship. For Mr Brymer
said sadly, but in a low voice, for fear that a boat should be within
hearing--

"Poor old girl! she ought to have had a few more voyages before this.
Sh