again, menma."

"I never will," the poor child said; yet I saw her wince whenever
the captain raised that hoarse voice of his in more and more
blasphemous exhortation; and I began to fear with Ready that the
man was drunk.

My eyes were still upon my darling, devouring her, revelling in her,
when suddenly I saw her hand twitch within her step-father's arm.
It was an answering start to one on his part. The cigarette was
snatched from his lips. There was a commotion forward, and a cry
came aft, from mouth to mouth:

"The flames! The flames !"

I turned, and caught their reflection on the white column of smoke
and steam. I ran forward, and saw them curling and leaping in the
hell-mouth of the hold.

The quarter-deck now staged a lurid scene: that blazing trap-door
in its midst; and each man there a naked demon madly working to
save his roasting skin. Abaft the mainmast the deck-pump was being
ceaselessly worked by relays of the passengers; dry blankets were
passed forward, soaking blankets were passed aft, and flung flat
into the furnace one after another. These did more good than the
pure water: the pillar of smoke became blacker, denser: we were at
a crisis; a sudden hush denoted it; even our hoarse skipper stood
dumb.

I had rushed down into the waist of the ship - blushing for my