"The smell down below was as unexpected as it was frightful. One would
have thought hundreds of paraffin-lamps had been flaring and smoking in
that hole for days. I was glad to get out. The man with me coughed and
said, 'Funny smell, sir.' I answered negligently, 'It's good for the
health, they say,' and walked aft.

"The first thing I did was to put my head down the square of the midship
ventilator. As I lifted the lid a visible breath, something like a thin
fog, a puff of faint haze, rose from the opening. The ascending air was
hot, and had a heavy, sooty, paraffiny smell. I gave one sniff, and
put down the lid gently. It was no use choking myself. The cargo was on
fire.

"Next day she began to smoke in earnest. You see it was to be expected,
for though the coal was of a safe kind, that cargo had been so handled,
so broken up with handling, that it looked more like smithy coal than
anything else. Then it had been wetted--more than once. It rained all
the time we were taking it back from the hulk, and now with this
long passage it got heated, and there was another case of spontaneous
combustion.

"The captain called us into the cabin. He had a chart spread on the
table, and looked unhappy. He said, 'The coast of West Australia is
near, but I mean to proceed to our destination. It is the hurricane
month too; but we will just keep her head for Bankok, and fight the
fire. No more putting back anywhere, if we all get roasted. We will try
first to stifle this 'ere damned combustion by want of air.'

"We tried. We battened down everything, and still she smoked. The smoke
kept coming out through imperceptible crevices; it forced itself through