d not distinguish till he spoke, and when he did, his voice
sounded husky and strange from excitement.

"Ready there?" shouted Bob Hampton, from forward; and none too soon, for
there was a flash of light, which turned the steam to ruddy gold, and a
dull crackling roar was rising out of the hold.

"Yes; go on there!" shouted Mr Brymer from the other side of the deck.
"Who has the branch?"

"I have," cried Mr Frewen.

Then as my heart beat wildly from excitement, the clanking of the pump
began again, and directly after a shrieking and hissing, which, in the
darkness of the night, sounded louder than ever. Report after report
came too, and with them the steam seemed to be denser than ever. Dark
as the night appeared, it was visible enough, and looked so awful and
yet grand, lit-up as it was by the fierce burst of fire beneath, that it
became hard to believe that it too was not glowing, curling flame,
rising up from the hold, and wreathing about the great yards and sails
of the main-mast.

I watched it as it rose, fully expecting to see the sails burst into
flame; but there it came in heavy folds, dimly-seen here, black in
shadow there, and the fiery-looking clouds proved to be only visible
vapours, water perfectly harmless, while the real flames caused by the
fire having reached something specially combustible, never rose many
feet in the hold, and by degrees began to yield to the powerful jet of
water Mr Frewen poured down.

"Tell me if I miss any of the worst places, Dale," he shouted, to make
his voice heard above the din of the elemental strife.

I answered that he was doing quite right; and the proof of my words was
shown by the gradual darkening of the steam from bright gold to pale
yellow, then to orange, bright red, and soon after to a dull glow, which
served to show where the danger lay, and this part was so deluged, that
in less than an hour the glow died out, and we were in utter darkness.

"Let me take it a bit now," said Mr Brymer, joining us; and with the
hissing and sputtering to guide him, he now continued to pour on the
water, talking loudly the while about our alarm.

"I ought not to have lain down," he said, in tones full of
self-reproach. "I might have known that the fire would break out
again."

"Why, we couldn't have had a better watch kept, Mr Brymer."

"You are right, my lad," he replied warmly. "I ought to have thought of
that too. Go and tell Mr and Miss Denning that the danger i