CHAPTER V.
FIRE AT SEA.
"At this moment, a moment that I shall never forget, I heard a suddencrackling noise, strange and unexpected, coming from a point seeminglyclose to me. I turned around and saw nothing. Nevertheless, I stillheard that sound in my ears. It was a strange sound. One might havethought that an immense punch had been lighted in the interior of theship, and that the liquid, stirred up by invisible hands, was tossed upand down, hissing and crackling. The quick movement of my head hadarrested George in the midst of his caresses. Now he looked up at mewith astonished eyes. The uneasiness which I felt in spite of theabsence of any cause must have appeared upon my face, for my wife,standing beside me, leaned over to ask, in a subdued voice,--
"'What is the matter?'
"I think I answered, 'Nothing.' But my mind had dwelt upon an awfuldanger,--that danger of which the most hardened seamen speak with abeating heart,--fire at sea. Alas! my fears were to be realized. Fromone of the hatches there suddenly leaped up a tongue of flame. At thesame instant we heard the awful cry, 'Fire!' To add to our distress, thewind had increased, and had become so violent that it fanned the flameswith terrible rapidity, and had enveloped the state-rooms in the rear,whence the passengers were running, trembling and crying. In a fewminutes the back of the ship was all on fire. My wife had snatchedGeorge from my arms, and held him closely against her breast, ready tosave him or die with him. The captain, in the midst of the panic of thepassengers, gave his orders. The boats were being lowered into thesea,--those at least which remained, for two had already been attackedby the fire. Accident threw the captain between me and my wife at thevery moment when he was crying out to his men to allow none but thewomen and children in the boats. He recognized me. I had been introducedto him by a common friend, and he said, in a voice choked with emotion,pointing to my wife and my son,--
"'Embrace them!'
"Then he tore them both from my arms and pushed and carried them to thelast boat, which was already too full. Night had come. With the rise ofthe wind, clouds had collected, obscuring the sky. By the light of thefire I saw for the last time--yes, for the last time--my wife and mychild in the boat, shaken by an angry sea. Both were looking towards me.Did they see me also for the last time? And in my agony I cried out,'George! George!' with a voice so loud that my son must surely haveheard that last cry. Yes, he must have heard it. I stood rooted to thespot, looking without seeing anything, stupefied by this hopelesssorrow, not even feeling the intense heat of the flames, which werecoming towards me. But the captain saw me. He ran towards me, drew meviolently back, and threw me in the midst of the men, who were beginninga determined struggle against the fire which threatened to devour them.The instinct of life, the hope to see again my loved ones, gave mecourage. I did as the others. Some of the passengers applied themselvesto the chain; the pumps set in motion threw masses of water into thefire; but it seemed impossible to combat it, for it was alcohol whichwas burning. They had been obliged to repack part of the hold, wherethere were a number of demijohns of alcohol which the bad weather thefirst days had displaced. During the work one of these vast stonebottles had fallen and broken. As ill luck would have it, the alcoholdescended in a rain upon a lamp in the story below, and the alcohol hadtaken fire. So I had not been mistaken when the first sound had made methink of the crackling of a punch. We worked with an energy which canonly be found in moments of this sort. The captain inspired us withconfidence. At one time we had hope. The flames had slackened, or atleast we supposed so; but in fact they had only gone another way, andreached the powder-magazine. A violent explosion succeeded, and one ofthe masts was hurled into the sea. Were we lost? No; for the engineerhad had a sudden inspiration. He had cut the pipes, and immediatelydirected upon the flames torrents of steam from the engine. A curtain ofvapor lifted itself up between us and the fire, a curtain which theflames could not penetrate. Then the pumps worked still moreeffectually. We were saved."