ook's length.

"Look out for the other masts; they'll be comin' down too in a jiffy!"
sang out one of the men; and they all pulled for their lives. But the
alarm was a false one, the main and mizzen masts standing for full ten
minutes longer.

But when we got under the ship's stern it became perfectly clear that no
living thing could be aboard her, for she was even more fiercely ablaze
aft than she was for'ard, the whole of her, from the mainmast to the
taffrail, being a veritable furnace of roaring flame, with tongues and
jets of fire leaping from her cabin windows and from every port and
scuttle. It was impossible to board her in this direction; it would
have simply been an act of suicide to have attempted it; even her
outside planking, right down to the water's edge, was so hot that it was
unbearable to the touch; and it was beyond all doubt that if those
fiends in the brigantine had left the crew, or any portion of them, on
board, the unhappy creatures must have perished long ere we had reached
the ill-fated craft. I therefore took a note of her name,--the
_Kingston Trader_ of Bristol,--and reluctantly gave the word to haul off
to a safe distance to wait until the schooner should run down and pick
us up.

This occurred about a quarter of an hour later, and the moment that the
gig was fairly clear of the water we crowded sail after the brigantine;
but, fast as the schooner was, the pirate craft easily ran away from us,
and by sunset had vanished below the horizon.

Nothing further of importance happened to us until our arrival at Port
Royal, which occurred on the evening of the following day, when we just
saved the last of the sea breeze into the harbour. The captain went
ashore and reported himself that same night, dining with the admiral
afterwards; but I did not go ashore until late the next day, as there
was a great deal of business that I had to attend to. Captain Harrison
was of course most anxious that our trial by court-martial for the loss
of the frigate should take place as speedily as possible, because he
could not hope for another command until that was over; and it happened
by a quite exceptional piece of luck that there were enough ships in the
harbour to allow of its being held at once. It was consequently
arranged to take place on board the flag-ship, on the fourth day
following our arrival. It was, of course, only a formal affair, the
loss of the frigate being due to causes quite beyond ou