"Look," said Alice, and she pointed to the curling smoke.

More clanging bells resounded, and more lines of hose were run out. There
was no doubt, now, that the _Tarsus_ was making a complete turn.

Then, as the captain and one officer left the bridge there rang out the
cry:

"Fire! Fire! The ship's on fire! Lower the boats!"




CHAPTER V

DISABLED


Panics start so easily, especially at the mere mention of the word
"fire," that it is no wonder there was at once an incipient one aboard
the _Tarsus_. But the captain, who was a veteran, acted promptly and
efficiently.

Some of the sailors had made a rush for the boats, but the captain,
coming down from the bridge on the run, flung himself in front of the
excited men. He pushed one or two of them aside so violently that they
fell to the deck. Then the commander, in a voice that rang out above the
startled calls, cried out: