not to show it, but went on chatting
with Blanche upon the same subject as before. It may be, however, that
his thoughts wandered a little from the matter in hand, for once or
twice he halted and hesitated somewhat in his speech, and seemed to
forget what he was talking about.

A quarter of an hour passed away; and then Captain Staunton, followed by
the chief mate, came on deck. They walked as far as the break of the
poop together, and then Mr Bowles gave the word to "pipe all hands
aft!"

("There _is_ something amiss," thought Lance.)

In less than a minute the men were all mustered in the waist of the
ship, waiting wonderingly to hear what the skipper had to say, for it
was perfectly evident that Captain Staunton was about to address them.
When the men were all assembled the captain turned to the passengers on
the poop, and said--

"Ladies and gentlemen, have the goodness to come a little nearer me, if
you please; what I have to say concerns all hands alike--those in the
saloon as well as those in the forecastle."

The passengers moved forward as requested, Lance taking Blanche's hand
upon his arm and giving it a little reassuring squeeze as he did so.

Captain Staunton then turned himself so that he could be heard by all,
and began--

"My friends, I have called you round me in order to communicate to you
all a piece of very momentous intelligence. It is of a somewhat trying
nature; and therefore, before I go further, I must ask you to listen to
me patiently, to obey orders implicitly, and above all, to preserve
coolness and presence of mind. _With_ these, I have not a doubt that we
can successfully battle with the difficulty; _without_ them it will be
impossible for us to work effectively, and the consequences must
necessarily be proportionately grave."

He paused a moment; and then, seeing that every one appeared to be
perfectly cool and steady, he added--

"I greatly regret to say I have some cause for suspicion that _fire has
broken out somewhere below_--steady, now! steady, lads; wait and hear
all I have to say--I repeat I have a suspicion that fire may have broken
out on board; the temperature of the saloon is unaccountably hot, and
there is a strange smell below which may or may not be caused by fire.
It is necessary that the matter should be looked into at once; and I ask
every one here to lend me their best assistance. In case of my surmise
proving correct _keep cool_ and work your hardest, e