o the
boat.

Something, a faint suggestion of sound rather than sound itself caused
him to pause. He heard nothing more, though he listened for a full
minute. Instinctively he turned to a stateroom in the midship
deck-house.

"Captain Merrithew--are--you--coming?" The first officer's voice arose
in impatient cadence.

"Yes--hold there a minute!" replied Dan, twisting the knob of the door.
It was locked. He ran back a few paces and sprang at it with his
shoulder. It trembled and gave. He rushed again and the door crashed
inward. The room was filling with smoke.

And on the bunk sat Virginia, her hands on her knees, her head hanging
low and swaying dazedly from side to side. She was on the verge of
collapse; but she looked up and smiled faintly as Dan burst in. Then
her head fell again.

"I knew you would come," she muttered.

Without a word Dan seized her by the arm and led her swiftly to the
shattered door. As they reached the threshold there came a dull boom
from below--the vessel shivered. A sheet of flame swept the entire
forward deck, and Dan looked out into a red, pulsing wall.

In terror the men in the fourth and last boat, the fire licking their
faces, let go the falls, and the little craft struck the water with a
crash, but on an even keel.

Knowing he could not reach the boat even were it still on the davits,
Dan left the stateroom and half led, half carried the girl toward the
stern.

The forward deck was now a seething inferno. The foremast, a pillar of
thin name, flickered like a pennon of gold until it broke in the middle
and sent up a shower of sparks. The shrouds and ratlines which went
with it had barred the black heavens with ruddy lines. From all the
openings dull red clouds rolled and bellied skyward, cloud upon cloud;
the funnel spouted like a blast furnace.

But the vessel slowly, but very surely, was falling off the wind; it
would soon blow astern. The shelter of the after deck-house would
serve for a while, perhaps until some vessel, attracted by the terrible
light, would bring them succor. Dan placed the girl behind this steel
structure and then, running to the taffrail, leaned far out and called
to the boats. But the roar of the flames drowned his cries, and the
boats, which had moved out to windward, could not see him. Foot by
foot crept the fire; but the stiff wind which finally came over the
stern did its work well, and the red avalanche began to slant toward
t