hat the
danger could be kept secret. The troops were sleeping on the deck and
the very employment of the seamen pointed out what had occurred, even if
the smoke, which now increased very much, and filled the lower deck, had
not betrayed it. In a few minutes the alarm of _Fire_! was heard
throughout the vessel, and men, women, and children, were seen, some
hurrying on their clothes, some running frightened about the decks, some
shrieking, some praying, and the confusion and terror were hardly to be
described.

The judicious conduct of Philip was then made evident: had the sailors
been awakened by the appalling cry, they would have been equally
incapable of acting as were the troops and passengers. All
subordination would have ceased: some would have seized the boats, and
left the majority to perish: others would have hastened to the
spirit-room, and, by their drunkenness added to the confusion and horror
of the scene: nothing would have been effected, and almost all would in
all probability have perished miserably. But this had been prevented by
the presence of mind shown by Philip and the second-mate, for the
Captain was a cipher:--not wanting in courage certainly, but without
conduct or a knowledge of his profession. The seamen continued steady
to their duty, pushing the soldiers out of the way as they performed
their allotted tasks: and Philip perceiving this, went down below,
leaving Krantz in charge; and by reasoning with the most collected, by
degrees he brought the majority of the troops to a state of comparative
coolness.

The powder had been thrown overboard, and another hole having been cut
in the deck on the other side, the other pump was rigged, and double the
quantity of water poured into the hold; but it was evident to Philip
that the combustion increased. The smoke and steam now burst through
the interstices of the hatchways and the holes cut in the deck with a
violence that proved the extent of the fire which raged below, and
Philip thought it advisable to remove all the women and children to the
poop and quarter-deck of the ship, desiring the husbands of the women to
stay with them. It was a melancholy sight, and the tears stood in
Philip's eyes as he looked upon the group of females--some weeping and
straining their children to their bosoms; some more quiet and more
collected than the men: the elder children mute or crying because their
mothers cried, and the younger ones, unconscious of danger