re is no fear of her going down, Dale, for many hours, if at all. I
want to see what damage there is forward, and whether we can come aboard
and attack the fire with any chance of success."

"But shall we not be safer in the boat?" I said.

"Most decidedly not. And fancy, boy, there are three sick and wounded
people, and a lady! It is our duty to study them, and besides, after
all, we may save the ship."

This sent a thrill of enthusiasm through me as we passed out of the
cabin, littered with all kinds of stores and fittings, out along the
damaged saloon, and thence through the companion on to the deck, which
was blackened with pieces of burnt wood, scraps of a heterogeneous kind
that had probably been sent skyward by the explosions, to fall back
half-charred.

The smell of burnt powder now was terrible, and I could not help
stopping.

"What is it?" said Mr Brymer.

"Do you think there is any more powder below?" I said, as I thought of
the possibility of another explosion.

"Indeed I don't," said the mate, decisively. "Not a grain. It is all
honest fire, my lad, smouldering away in the cargo, and waiting for a
little encouragement in the shape of wind to burst out into an
unconquerable blaze."

We had been advancing again through the charred embers and fragments, to
stand at last by a large ragged cavity, torn up in the deck. The whole
of the hatches and combings were blasted away, and a clean sweep had
been made for fully thirty feet onward, and twenty or so across; and
everywhere was of a blackish grey, showing the effects of the
blasting-powder. Still there was room enough on both sides to walk
along by the hole; and as we looked down we could see that, in spite of
the destruction, with one exception the great cross-beams which
supported the deck were intact.

"She will not sink, Dale," said the mate, quietly; and as a feeling of
confidence on that question made me feel better, the fire suddenly
flamed up in one place, burning briskly with a good deal of crackling
and sputtering, making me feel doubtful of the ship's stability on that
side.

Mr Brymer gave me a nod, meant for encouragement, as he went on--

"All the force of the powder went upwards, as it usually does. If it
had been dynamite, the explosion would have struck down, driving out the
bottom, and then of course the ship would have sunk."

"But the fire!" I said; and the anxiety I felt affected my voice,
making it sound husky.