thers jump into each of the large boats, two
into the small one, and bring them round to the landward side of the ship.
A rush would swamp the boats, and we shall be able to keep only one
gangway clear."

The passengers were by this time rushing upon deck half-clad, and in a
state of the wildest terror, for they all knew there was a large quantity
of gunpowder on board. The instant the boats touched the starboard side of
the bark, the men, white as well as colored, forced their way with
frenzied eagerness before the women and children--careless, apparently,
whom they sacrificed so that they might themselves leap to the shelter of
the boats from the fiery volcano raging beneath their feet. Captain
Starkey, aided by the four athletic seamen he had selected for the duty,
hurled them fiercely back. "Back, back!" he shouted. "We must have funeral
order here--first the women and children, next the old men. Hand Senora
Arguellas along; next the young lady her daughter: quick!"

As Donna Antonia, more dead than alive, was about to be lifted into the
boat, a gush of flame burst up through the main hatchway with the roar of
an explosion; a tumultuous cry burst from the frenzied passengers, and
they jostled each other with frightful violence in their efforts to reach
the gangway. Dupont forced his way through the lane of seamen with the
energy of a madman, and pressed so suddenly upon Antonia that, but for the
utmost exertion of the captain's Herculean strength, she must have been
precipitated into the water.

"Back, unmanly dastard! back, dog!" roared Captain Starkey, terribly
excited by the lady's danger; and a moment after, seizing Dupont fiercely
by the collar, he added: "or if you will, look there but for a moment,"
and he pointed with his pistol-hand to the fins of several sharks plainly
visible in the glaring light at but a few yards' distance from the ship.
"Men," he added, "let whoever presses forward out of his turn fall into
the water."

"Ay, ay, sir!" was the prompt mechanical response.

This terrible menace instantly restored order; the colored women and
children were next embarked, and the boat appeared full.

"Pull off," was the order: "you are deep enough for safety."

A cry, faint as the wail of a child, arose in the boat. It was heard and
understood.

"Stay one moment; pass along Senor Arguellas. Now, then, off with you, and
be smart!"

The next boat was quickly loaded; the colored lads and men, all but