The Morning herald., 1876-12-04
CORD AND CREESE.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SIGNAL OF FIRE.

The fame rolled on. 1t threw it's long
arms through the million lntsrsticss of the
loose piles Of wood, it penetrated every
where with its subtle, far reaching power,
till within the ship the glow broadened and
widened, the central heart Of fire enlarged
its borders, and the floods of flame that
flowed from it rushed with consuming fury
through the whole body of the ship.
Glowing with bright lustre, increasing
in that brightness every moment, leaping
up as it consumed and flashing vividly az
tleaped up. A thousand tongues of fame
streamed upward through the crannies of
the gaping deck, and between the wide orr.
fees of the planks and timbers the daz-
zling flames cleaned; thousand resistlsss
arms seemed extended forward to grasp
the fabric now completely at its mercy,
and the breath Of the fire shriveled up all
in is path before yet its hands were laid
upon it.
And fast and furious, with eager advance,
the flames rushed on devouring every
thing. Through the hatchway, around
which the hiercei fires gathered, the stream
CT lame rose impetuously on high, in a
straight upward torrent, Aurling up vast
pyramid of fire to ebon skies, which, like
that which once illumed the Slavonic strait
with the signal-fre first caught from burn
ing Troy, here threw its radiance far over
the deep.
While the lighter wood lasted the flame
was in the ascendant and nobly it did It's
work. Whatever could be done by bright
radiance and penetrating lustre was
done here. If that ship which had passed
held any men on board capable of feeling a
human interest in the visible signs of Gala
nifty at sea, they would be able to read in
this flame that there was disaster some
where upon these waters, and if they had
human hearts they would turn to see if there
was not some suffering which they might
relieve.
But the lighter and the dryer wood was
at last consumed, and now there remained
that which Brandon had never touched,
the dense masses which still lay piled
where they had been placed eighteen years
before. Upon these the fire now marched.
But already the long days and weeks of
scorching sun and fierce wind had not been
without their effects, and the dampness had
been subdued. Besides, the fire that ad-
vanced upon them had already gained i'm
mense advantage; for one half Of the brig
was one glowing mass of heat, which sent
forth its consuming forces, and withered
up, and blighted, and annlhilated all
around. The close-bound and close-packed
masses of slaves and boards received the
reslstless embrace of the fire, and where
they did not flame they still gave forth
none the less blazeless glow.
Now from the burning vessel the flame
arose no more; but in its place there ap-
peared that which sent forth IS vivid a
CLEAN, and az far-fashing light. The
hre had full sway, though it gave forth no
1laze, and, while it CLEANED but little, still it
devoured. From the sides OF the ship the
nlanks, blasted by the intense heat and by
1he eoutburst of the flames, had sprung away,
and nov for nearly all the length of the
vessel the timbers were exposed without any
covering. Between these flashed forth the
sleam Of the fire inside, which now in one
pure mass glowed with dazzling brightness
ana intense heat.
But the wood inside damp as was, and
solid in its fibre, did not allow very swift
progress to the fire. 1t burned, but it bur.
ned slowly. 1t glowed like the charcoal of
furnace from behind its wooden bars.
The massive timbers of mahogany wood
Yielded slowly and stubbornly to the con-
Migration. They stood up like iron bars
Ao1g after all the interior was one glowing