in reach of a kick of my foot! I trembled in every limb
and sweated at every pore, and seemed to want brains enough to tell me
what ought next to be done!

How long I thus stood irresolute I don't know; still clutching the
hoarsely-ticking piece of clockwork. I crawled in the direction in
which I supposed lay the casks behind which I had hidden. I had
scarcely advanced half a dozen feet when the mechanism snapped in my
fingers; a bright flash, like to the leap of a flame in the pan of a
flint musket, irradiated the lazarette; the match was kindled, and
burnt freely. The first eating spark was but small; I extinguished the
fiery glow between my thumb and forefinger, squeezing it in my terror
with the power of the human jaw. The ticking ceased; the murderous
thing lay silent and black in my hand. I waited for some minutes to
recover myself, and then made up my mind to get out of the lazarette
and go on deck, and tell the people that there was a barrel of
gunpowder in the after-hold, and that I had saved the ship from having
her side or stern blown out.

I pocketed the brass box and match, but it took me above half an hour
to get out of the infernal hole. I fell into crevices, went sprawling
over pointed edges, and twice came very near to breaking my leg.
Happily, I was tall, and when I stood on the upper tier of cargo I
could feel the deck above me, and once, whilst thus groping, I touched
the edge of the hatchway, thrust up the cover, and got out.

I walked straight down the corridor, which was sown with passengers'
boots, mounted the wide staircase, and gained the quarter-deck. I
reeled and nearly fell, so intoxicating was the effect of the gushing
draught of sweet, fresh night-wind after the stagnant, cheesy
atmosphere of the lazarette. A bull's-eye shone on the face of a clock
under the break of the poop; the hour was twenty minutes after two.
Nothing stirred on the main deck and waist; the forward part of the
ship was hidden in blackness. She was sailing on a level keel before
the wind, and the pallid spaces of her canvas soared to the trucks, wan
as the delicate curls and shreds of vapor which floated under the
bright stars.

I ascended a flight of steps which led to the poop, and saw the shadowy
figures of two midshipmen walking on one side the deck, whilst on the
other side, abreast of the mizzen rigging, stood a third person I
guessed by his being alone that he was the officer of the watch, and
ste