The National tribune., 1884-04-03
BSTORY OF SIX HOURS
The First officers Thrilling Narrative
CT An Incident al Sea.


shipNrecked vet; but ] was once q good deal
nearer il than ! ever wsat 10 be again; and II
:, nlan's air can turn gray in a single night. IS
some folks say il cau, that nights work ought 10
have turned mine as gray as a badger
1t sas my fourth voyage, and we were home
ward bound. from bombay to southampton,
with \ fgll numAcr oil passengers. i WAS only
& yenagser then, and, Ike all young hands, d
a great longing for taste Of the peTils OF the
SCI" and al thai sort o. thing. But VIXEN
dad Get a taste OF them, as you'll see presently,
] didn't like esq quite 50 well rs expected.
We were several DAYS 0ut from bombay, ana
IL niiglli be al,oat two hundred and fifty miles
1roia tic isle of SOe0tra, which lies IN between
Africa and Alal,ia, IS i dare say yOu 'recollect.
] WAS fourth oihcer that voyage by-the-by.
The weather had been splendid from the very
first, aad looked like staying so right through.
All the people WHO lad been sick We're getting
quite brisk agasi, and everybody was as jolly
as could be.
About seven o'clock one fine evening we were
a. on deck. watching the sunset, and calcuia-
ting how SOON we saOuld be in the Eed sea,
when my attention MAS attracted Icy our third
officer. Harry Lee. VINO WAS a special chum OF
mine. lie WAS a slim young fellow, not much
older than myself, bat cool q a cucumber and
brave as lion. / was just going uP 10 have 4
word with him, when i saw hlsn hit his head
and begin shifting the a.r une2sily, like a
fL~itsNL stcti. HEt tlt1A II AilN
beading feo. iile hurricane deck into the waist,
and went hlther ANA tlither for a moment or
two in a la g-llazard kind OF way, just IS a dog
does Wscn be's looking ont for s..ug place TO
iie down.
ccala see that his behavior puzzled the
other officers qaite IS much as il did me- Be
fore arg 81 US could say a word, back ne came
again, and, gong np to The captain, said some
thing ii such "A low voice that j could only
catch one word of it. But even that one was
cutie enough to double me up ior the moment
as ii "a been hIt by csss.i0a-ball. The word
that ] eaagai was FIRE.
To try mans nerve ia real earnest, ! don't
think there's anything in tee world like fire
at sea. A FIRE oa land is bad enough, where
you have a cherce Of running away from 1T;
but at sea. where you're hemmed in between
fire OH one side and water On the other, its
like nothing can think OF except the feeling
you sometimes have IA a bad dream, when you
see something terrible coming rushing down
upon von, and then suddenly find yourself
rooted TO the ground, and not able 70 stir a
limb 10 escape Show Inc the man who can
lace 3 Sudden alarG Of fire Oh board ship with
out wincing and III show you the brayest man
On the face of the earth.
But its one good OF such a shock as that that
when the first stun is ever il braces you up at
once. We all felt that our only chance was TO
keep cool and 10 do our best, and we drew our
selves together 10 do il.
Mr.. Lee" said the captain, quite coolly,
though bis hard old mouth was set like q trap
as he said il. the passengers must know moth
ing OF this whateveahappens. just 20 art and
get them down into the saloon for some music,
and then. as soon as you can get away without
being noticed, come here and lend as hand"
Away went Harry accordingly, and presently
we heard MS voice down on the aiteg-deck as
brisk and CHEEKY as if there was nothing the
matter. Down trooped the passengers in a
body, Tor Lee was grea. tavOrite with them,
ana was always getting up something for their
amusement ia another minute or two we
heard the piano going. and one Of the young
fellows singing comic Song, with ali the rest
joining in the chorus:
+" BY a1ese zseat out 70 Ssh one day,
when tn-zs just n-getting dark.
And something pulled 50 hard at his line
azt he thought he hooked shark.
Instead Of a shark twas ihe hull Of a ship
iat had sunk there year before;
Bili just a. lie q 60. u tile line broke short.
And down went The ship once more
1t did send shudder through us all, I can
tel yOa, t. hear ghcfn 50 merry. and singing SO
careiessiy about SHIPS going down, and all that,
with death gaping f8r them all the while. But
There was 30 Tine 70 think Of it just then.
Vel, the captain called up our men, aud
".
AND that The sooner they put il out the better.
&c sa-d il 20 lightly and cheerily that you
nig.st nave thought tho whole business was q
nlcre triAe, and that they had nothing 70 do
bgt % 90 and gGencii the fire al once. But AS
he finished speaking ] saw that he had bitten
bis lover iip until i bied.
To work VIC wsnt, then, one AID all. We
knew better than 10 take on the matches and
Jet ID the ar upon tie flames, 20 we cut holes
ia The planklng, aud trained the nozzle of the
hcae-laPcs Through them. Then We began
pumping away with ali our might.
but just as the work was IN full swing. two
o. the passeDEers-y0ung fellows. just married
who were going home on leave-came on deck
suddenly, and saw II the first glance what wa
gong on.
Gentlemen, said the captain, going up Il
them, I" NC dicn't expect you here just now; but
since you are here, you must please stay and
help Us. We can't let you 80 back now"
One Of them agreed az once but the ethel
begged hard 10 be allowed to 20 and see hi
wife before he began. However, the captain
wouldn't hear o. IT, 50 al last be went and fel
70 work alongside OF his comrade, and they
botn stack TO il Ike nea right on to the end
Bat. work as We might, the fire seemed {,
pam upon Us, and between ten and eleven a
might the matches had TO 60. The moment thel
were Oh. up sp0utcd roaring jet of lam
twelve feet and more above the deck, with sucl
1ury that j began 70 lose heart, for their
seemed to be no chance Of mastering that Blu
We weren't al the worst Of i yet for all a
once saw our chief officer turn pale as death
and he gurgled out as If the words choke,
lim, he ggnPoUdey ~
When heard him say that, ii turned me quit
sick and FAINT, for l knew well enough VIVA
be meant IN that very fore-hold, and close Z
the place whore tie fire was at its worst Their
were cigAt ammunition cases, containing pow
ceF enough 10 blow the whole ship 10 bits
Fox moment We all stood like 50 many stat
ues: but iust then we heard old Captain Wealth
crtg' voice. clear aud cool as ever:
] won't order any man on such Job q
that; but We must get that powder up some
bow. Who'll follow megv
DowH we went, and he was hardly down be
fore there were siE Of as beside him.
We few al the powder chests, and tuggei
them ont u their places one by one, while Ia
men on deck kept pouring down a perfect cat
aract Of water, 10 fight of the flames from US
What with tie smoke and steam the siiiin
heat. fhe shouting OF the men and the roar 0
the ere. the dancing and flashing Of faces am
arlns out q the darkness and into it again an,
the feeling that at any moment we might All b
blown into the air together, il was Just lik
being ia The thick Of a battle.
One, two, tirce chests were handed mp O
deck. We had hard work with the fourth an
fifth, but VIC managed them at last and the
tic sixth and tie seventh. When it came (
the last, j lclt as If something must happc
then; but up it went, and presently / foan
myself on deck again, hardly knowing how
got there, scorched and bruised and halfehokce
snl black ~ 3 sweep from head 20 foot.
~ was nine at night when we began TO pump
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