putting the fire out all by himself after his men had fled, had never
been heard of before, an' she said it never would be again. She said he
must be terribly burnt, and he'd have to be put to bed and wrapped up in
oily rags.

"It didn't take us long to get aboard again, and the ladies fairly
mobbed the skipper. Tom Hall swore as 'ow Mrs. Prendergast tried to kiss
him, an' the fuss they made of him was ridiculous. I heard the clang of
the telegraph in the engine-room soon as the boats was hoisted up, the
engines started, and off we went again.

"'Speech,' yells out somebody. 'Speech.' "'Bravo!' ses the others.
'Bravo!' "Then the skipper stood up an' made 'em a nice little speech.
First of all he thanked 'em for their partiality and kindness shewn to
him, and the orderly way in which they had left the ship. He said it
reflected credit on all concerned, crew and passengers, an' no doubt
they 'd be surprised when he told them that there hadn't been any fire
at all, but that it was just a test to make sure that the boat drill was
properly understood.

"He was quite right about them being surprised, Noisy, too, they was,
an' the things they said about the man they'd just been wanting to give
granite tombstones to was simply astonishing. It would have taken a
whole cemetery o' tombstones to put down all they said about him, and
then they'd ha' had to cut the letters small.

"'I vote we have an indignation meeting in the saloon to record our
disgust at the cap'n's behaviour,' ses the major fiercely. 'I beg to
propose that Mr. Macpherson take the chair.'

"'I second that,' ses another, fierce-like.

"'I beg to propose the major instead,' ses somebody else in a heavy
off-hand sort o' way; 'Mr. Macpherson's boat not having come back yet.'

"At first everybody thought he was joking, but when they found he was
really speaking the truth the excitement was awful. Fortunately as Mrs.
Prendergast remarked, there was no ladies in the boat, but there was
several men passengers. We were doing a good thirteen knots an hour, but
we brought up at once, an' then we 'ad the most lovely firework display
I ever see aboard ship in my life. Blue lights and rockets and guns
going all night, while we cruised slowly about, and the passengers sat
on deck arguing as to whether the skipper would be hung or imprisoned
for life.

"It was daybreak afore we sighted them, just a little speck near the
skyline, an' we bore down on them for all we wa