cloud of smoke showing beyond the horizon.

It was a ship on fire. The alert officer of the watch had noticed the
smoke, which was much too dense to be caused by the vessel's furnaces.
On reporting the matter to the captain, the latter immediately ordered
the _Oxford_ to be steered in that direction. As senior officer, he
gave orders for the other cruisers to stand on that course.

"She's quite a small packet, I should imagine," remarked one of the
Subs. "At any rate she's not fitted with wireless."

In half an hour the cruiser was sufficiently near to see clearly the
distressed vessel. She was a cargo-boat of about two thousand tons.
Amidships, flames were mounting fiercely from her hatches. She had
stopped her engines, and was preparing to lower boats. Aft, she flew
the Stars and Stripes, upside down as a signal of distress.

The ship was doomed. Fanned by the light breeze, the flames were
rapidly spreading. Her cargo undoubtedly consisted of highly
inflammable material, since it blazed freely, while the smoke smelt
strongly of burnt oil.

The _Oxford_ stopped at four cables' length to windward of the burning
ship. She could do nothing beyond rescuing the crew on board. There
was no necessity to lower her boats, since the cargo-boat obviously had
enough for all hands.

At length the boats of the unfortunate ship were lowered. There was no
undue haste. Men deliberately threw their bundles into the arms of
their waiting comrades before they swarmed down the falls. The captain
was the last to leave, a bulge under his coat betraying the fact that
he had taken the ship's papers with him.

"Nothing of an explosive nature in her cargo," said Ross to his chum.
"Otherwise they would have sheered off a bit quicker. My word, how she
does burn! Isn't it a grand sight?"

"Yes," admitted Vernon. "It's lucky there's help at hand. Knocking
about in the boats in mid-Atlantic must be ten times as bad as in the
English Channel."

"I beg to differ," remarked one of the Subs who was standing by.
"There's not so much shipping, I'll admit, but the waves are longer and
more regular in mid-ocean. It's marvellous what an open boat can do
when she's put to it, except in very broken water."

The boats were now approaching the _Oxford_. A monkey-ladder had been
lowered to enable the men to surmount the lofty side of the cruiser,
while the sailors, always ready to lend a hand in cases of distress,
were swarming down