CHAPTER VII.
TRAPPED BY FLAMES.
Night fell and found them still in the same plight. The fog had shut incloser if anything. Since the last time they had caught the diminishingsound of the _Seneca's_ siren, they had heard no sound from any vessel.Others besides Tubby were hungry on board the _Good Hope_ that night.Then, too, the thought of the tragedy that had been consummated on boardthe derelict, and the gloom-inspiring presence of the silent figure inthe forward deck house, were not calculated to inspire cheerfulthoughts.
One thing they did have, and that was light. For in the course of theirinvestigation of the old hulk they had stumbled across several oldcandle lanterns, the candles in which were still capable of burning. Oneof these lanterns was lashed to the stump of the forward mast, but theother was hung up in the cabin below. For it was in this latter placethat the little party of castaways gathered and tried, by tellingstories and cracking jokes, to keep their spirits in the ascendent.
But their efforts were not very successful. As the Scotch say, "It's illjesting on an empty stomach," and that is the malady from which they allwere suffering. Thirst did not as yet trouble them much, but they knewthat if they were not speedily picked up by some vessel, that would alsobe added to their ordeal.
So the night passed away, with the castaways watching in turn for someray of hope of the fog lifting. It was soon after midnight, and in Rob'swatch, that a startling thing happened--something that brought his heartinto his mouths, and set his every nerve on vibrant edge.
The boy was sitting up forward, pondering the strangeness of the day'shappenings, when suddenly, right ahead of him, as it seemed, the fog wassplit by the hoarse shriek of a steamer's whistle.
Rob's scalp tightened from alarm as he leaped for the lantern.
"Look out!" he shouted at the top of his voice; "look out!"
But for reply there only came back out of the dense smother aheadanother raucous call of the big steam whistle.
"Gracious! We'll be run down! We'll be sunk!" cried the boy, half wildwith alarm.
He shouted to his companions to come on deck; but before they couldobey, a huge, black bulk loomed up right above the derelict. Rob shoutedat the top of his voice. It seemed as if the _Good Hope_ would be cut intwo and that the steamer was also doomed to disaster if she struck.
Through the blackness flashed a green side-light, and then came therushing by of the great hull, with its rows of illuminated portholes.Rob stood stock still. He was fairly rooted to the spot with panic. Butthe big steamer raced by in the blackness and fog without anyone onboard her ever dreaming that she had been in such close proximity to thedrifting derelict.
As her stern lights flashed for an instant and then were shut out in thefog, Rob's companions came rushing on deck.
"What is it? What has happened?" demanded the ensign, readily perceivingthat something very serious had occurred.
Rob, still shaky from his experience, related, as briefly as possible,just what had caused his cry of alarm.
"Well, those liners take desperate chances," commented the officer; "hadthey struck us, not only we, but they, would have been seriouslyinjured."
"Gee! I wish you could have found time to ask 'em to throw us somesandwiches," said Tubby, rubbing his stomach; "I'm as empty as a drygourd."
"I reckon we could all do with something to eat," chorused the otheryoung "Eagles".
The ensign bade them cheer up.
"By daylight we may have a wind, and then, with the fog gone, it won'ttake long for some vessel to pick us up."
He spoke with a cheerfulness he was actually far from feeling. In fact,his boyish listeners were not inclined to look hopefully on thesituation. By this time every one of them would have given almost all hepossessed for a big pitcher of cool ice water.
"I will take the remainder of your watch, Rob," said the ensign, with aglance at his watch. "You only had a few minutes to serve anyway, andthe next round of duty is mine."
"Very well," said Rob; "to tell the truth, a nap would feel pretty good.I hope things will have cleared by the time I wake up."
The boys went below, leaving the officer on the fog-circled deck. Themist gleamed on everything, the rays of the candle-lamp making themglisten as if water had been newly poured on them. Far off the hoarsehooting of the ship that had so nearly run them down was to be heard.
"Narrow escape, that! Narrower than I quite care to admit, even tomyself," mused the young officer. "I wonder if those lads realize howbad a fix we are in. I must confess I don't like the look of things atall."
He fell to pacing the deck, and then decided to have a cigar. For thispurpose he produced a perfecto from his pocket and lighted it. Then hefell to pacing the deck once more, thinking deeply. His cigar finished,he tossed it aside. Possibly it was his worry over their predicamentthat made him absent-minded in this regard, but instead of observing therule of the sea to cast all such things overboard, he threw it to thedeck. A lurch of the _Good Hope_ caused the glowing butt of the cigarto go rolling across the deck and to drop into the hold below.
It was some time later that Paul Perkins came on deck to take his turnat the night vigil.
As he came forward he was startled to see what appeared to be a ghostlyfigure, slightly darker than the fog, slip from the forward hold andglide across the deck toward the ensign, who was pacing up and down.Much startled, Paul called out aloud, and at the same instant a peculiaracrid odor came to his nostrils.
"Something's burning!" he cried.
Simultaneously he had come up to the side of the hatch and saw thatsmoke was pouring from it. What he had taken for a ghostly figure was awhirl of smoke.
"Fire! Something's on fire below!" cried the boy, dashing forward.
The ensign reached the edge of the hold as quickly. Together they peeredover into the great open space below. Both involuntarily recoiled witha cry of horror and alarm at what they saw.
The _Good Hope's_ hold was a mass of flames! To gaze into them was likelooking into a red hot furnace.
Adrift in a blinding fog, on a burning ship, and without boats, was apredicament the like of which their adventurous lives had never beforeencountered!
The cigar so carelessly cast aside by the ensign had fallen upon a pileof sacking, grease-soaked and inflammable, lying in the former whaler'shold. Like all whale ships the timbers of the _Good Hope_ were literallysoaked with grease, the result of whale oil and blubber. Such timbersburn like matchwood.
Small wonder that, brave man as he was, and schooled against emotionaldisplay in the stern school of the Navy, the ensign should yet cry out:
"If help does not arrive, we are doomed to die like rats!"