Part 19 (2/2)

”'Out with the boats,' ses Tom Hall to me, 'don't you hear the whistle?'

”'What, ain't we going to try an' put the fire out?' I ses.

”'Obey orders,' ses Tom, 'that's what we've got to do, an' the sooner we're away the better. You know what's in her.'

”We ran to the boats then, an', I must say, we got 'em out well, and the very fust person to git into mine was the major in his piejammers; arter all the others was in we 'ad 'im out agin. He didn't belong to our boat, an' dissipline is dissipline any day.

”Afore we could git clear o' the s.h.i.+p, however, he came yelling to the side an' said _his_ boat had gone, an' though we prodded him with our oars he lowered himself over the side and dropped in.

”Fortunately for us it was a lovely clear night; there was no moon, but the stars were very bright. The engines had stopped, an' the old s.h.i.+p sat on the water scarcely moving. Another boat was b.u.mping up against ours, and two more came creeping round the bows from the port side an'

jined us.

”'Who's in command?' calls out the major.

”'I am,' ses the first mate very sharp-like from one of the boats.

”'Where's the cap'n then?' called out an old lady from my boat o' the name o' Prendergast.

”'He's standing by the s.h.i.+p,' ses the mate.

”'_Doing what?_', ses Mrs. Prendergast, looking at the water as though she expected to see the skipper standing there.

”'He's going down with the s.h.i.+p,' ses one o' the chaps.

”Then Mrs. Prendergast asked somebody to be kind enough to lend her a handkerchief, becos she had left her pocket behind aboard s.h.i.+p, and began to sob very bitter.

”'Just a simple British sailor,' ses she, snivelling, 'going down with his s.h.i.+p. There he is. Look! On the bridge.'

”We all looked, an' then some o' the other wimmin wanted to borrer handkerchiefs. I lent one of 'em a little cotton waste, but she was so unpleasant about its being a trifle oily that she forgot all about crying, and said she'd tell the mate about me as soon as ever we got ash.o.r.e.

”'I'll remember him in my prayers,' ses one o' the wimmin who was crying comfortable in a big red bandana belonging to one o' the men.

”'All England shall ring with his deed,' ses another.

”'Sympathy's cheap,' ses one of the men pa.s.sengers solemnly. 'If we ever reach land we must all band together to keep his widow an' orphans.'

”'Hear, hear,' cries everybody.

”'And we'll put up a granite tombstone to his memory,' ses Mrs.

Prendergast.

”'S'pose we pull back to the s.h.i.+p an' take him off,' ses a gentleman from another boat. 'I'm thinking it 'ud come cheaper, an' perhaps the puir mon would really like it better himself.'

”'Shame,' ses most of 'em; an' I reely b'leeve they'd worked theirselves up to that pitch they'd ha' felt disappointed if the skipper had been saved.

”We pulled along slowly, the mate's boat leading, looking back every now and then at the old s.h.i.+p, and wondering when she would go off, for she'd got that sort of stuff in her hold which 'ud send her up with a bang as soon as the fire got to it; an' we was all waiting for the shock.

”'Do you know where we're going, Mr. Bunce,' calls out the major.

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