e'll go down directly."

But the minutes passed, and the ship still floated and burned slowly,
though it was a different kind of burning now. No soft floats of
spirit-blaze rose gently and silently, but little sluggish bits of fire
burned here and there where the tar had melted, and the flame was yellow
and the smoke black; in other places where the wood had caught there
were vicious hissings, spittings, and cracklings, as if it were hard
work to burn. And so hard did it seem in some places that the scraps of
wood gave it up as a bad job, and went out.

But there was plenty of mischief still in the hold, from whence a dense
body of smoke rose, the rolling volumes being dimly-seen by the
reflections cast upon them, and tingeing the suffocating vapour of a
dull red.

We sat there almost in perfect silence, watching the ship for quite an
hour; but though she was expected from moment to moment to heel over a
little first to one side, then to the other, she still floated upon an
even keel, and her masts with their unfilled sails retained their
places. But we dared go no nearer for fear of the death-agonies of the
monster coming on, and our being sucked down into the vortex she made as
she plunged beneath the sea which had borne her triumphantly so many
times in the past.

The desire was strong amongst us to begin talking, but Mr Brymer
forbade a word being spoken.

"Jarette may be waiting somewhere close at hand with his two boats, till
he has seen the last of the ship. We have had troubles enough; we do
not want to increase them by a fresh encounter with the scoundrel."

So there we sat watching, with the dull smouldering still going on in
the hold of the ship. Sometimes it flashed up a little, and promised to
blaze fiercely; but it was only a spasmodic attempt, and it soon settled
down again to the dull smouldering, with a few vicious sparks rising
here and there to hide themselves in the dull, rolling clouds, and we
were in momentary expectation of seeing the vapour-enshrouded masts
begin to describe arcs in the cloud, and then slowly settle down after
the sinking vessel. And as I watched and calculated, I seemed to see
the water rising slowly around the faintly-marked black hull, till it
covered the ports, reached the deck, and then began to pour over into
the burning hold, when of course there would be a fierce hissing, steam
would rise in volumes, which would cover the clouds of smoke, and then
all would b