about me as soon as ever we got
ashore.

"'I'll remember him in my prayers,' ses one o' the wimmin who was crying
comfortable in a big red bandana belonging to one o' the men.

"'All England shall ring with his deed,' ses another.

"'Sympathy's cheap,' ses one of the men passengers solemnly. 'If we ever
reach land we must all band together to keep his widow an' orphans.'

"'Hear, hear,' cries everybody.

"'And we'll put up a granite tombstone to his memory,' ses Mrs.
Prendergast.

"'S'pose we pull back to the ship an' take him off,' ses a gentleman
from another boat. 'I'm thinking it 'ud come cheaper, an' perhaps the
puir mon would really like it better himself.'

"'Shame,' ses most of 'em; an' I reely b'leeve they'd worked theirselves
up to that pitch they'd ha' felt disapponted if the skipper had been
saved.

"We pulled along slowly, the mate's boat leading, looking back every now
and then at the old ship, and wondering when she would go off, for she'd
got that sort o' stuff in her hold which 'ud send her up with a bang as
soon as the fire got to it; an' we was all waiting for the shock.

"'Do you know where we're going, Mr. Bunce?' calls out the major.

"'Yes,' ses the mate.

"'What's the nearest land?' asks the major.

"'Bout a thousand miles,' ses the mate.

"Then the major went into figgers, an' worked out that it 'ud take us
about ten days to reach land and three to reach the bottom o' the water
kegs. He shouted that out to the mate; an' the young leftenant what was
in the mate's boat smoking a big cigar said there'd be quite a run on
granite tombstones. He said it was a blessed thing he had disinherited
his children for marrying agin his wishes, so there wouldn't be any
orphans left to mourn for him.

"Some o' the wimmin smiled a little at this, an' old Mrs. Prendergast
shook so that she made the boat rock. We got quite cheerful somehow,
and one of the other men spoke up and said that owing to his only having
reckoned two pints to the gallon, the major's figgers wasn't to be
relied upon.

"We got more cheerful then, and we was beginning to look on it as just a
picnic, when I'm blest if the mate's boat didn't put about and head for
the ship agin.

"There was a commotion then if you like, everybody talking and
laughing at once; and Mrs. Prendergast said that such a thing as one
single-handed cap'n staying behind to go down with his ship, and then
putting the fire out all by himself after his