ht go off
unless speedily attended to, for the boat had come away without brandy
or any other restorative.

The rescued man was handed on deck with all the tenderness with which
sailors are wont to treat the sick and wounded, or women and children.
The doctor was immediately roused up to do what he considered necessary.

The stranger seemed by his dress to be an officer, although, whether
officer or man, he would have been looked after with the same care. Tom
had him at once carried to his cabin, where the doctor undressed him.

The various remedies which his case required having been applied, the
stranger soon gave signs of returning animation.

"His pulse is improving," observed the doctor, "and he will do well
enough after a time. No one must talk to him, however, when he comes to
his senses, or try to learn how he got into the situation in which he
was found."

Tom's watch being over, and having given up his cabin he was about to
roll himself up in his cloak in a corner of the ward room, when the
fearful cry of "Fire! fire!" was raised. He hurried on deck, where Jack
and all the officers and crew quickly assembled. The drum beat to
quarters. The men flew to their stations. The soldiers, who well knew
the meaning of the tattoo, hastened on deck and fell in, according to
their officers' orders, on either side.

During that moment of awful suspense, strict discipline prevailed. The
last persons to appear were the major and Mrs Bubsby and their two tall
daughters. The former, with a blanket thrown over his head, making him
look very much like a young polar bear, and the lady in her nightcap,
with a bonnet secured by a red woollen shawl fastened under her chin,
while the costume of the young ladies showed also that they had
hurriedly dressed themselves, and in a way they would not have wished to
have appeared in, under ordinary circumstances, one having her papa's
military cloak tied round her waist, while the other had a railway rug,
of large size, covering her shoulders and hanging down behind.

"What's the matter? what's the matter?" asked the major, in a tone of
agitation.

"The ship is on fire, and we, with the aid of your men, have to put it
out," said Jack.

"Fire!" exclaimed Mrs Bubsby. "Oh, dear! oh, dear! what will become of
us. I thought such a thing was impossible on board of a well-regulated
man-of-war."

Jack had no time to reply to the lady. That the ship was on fire was
too certain