s!"

So saying, the good-hearted Irishman busied himself, with the help of
Stoddart, who was equally gentle in handling the poor fellow, getting
him ready for removal; and when he had been carefully placed in the
hammock and covered with the blanket, the two of them, both being strong
and powerful men, they lifted their burden with the utmost tenderness
and carried him upward to the main deck, where he was put into a berth
in one of the state rooms that the steward had prepared, and every
attention paid him.

Mr Fosset and I helped up Blanchard, the other fireman, he, luckily,
not requiring to be carried; and we then went down for Mr Stokes, who
had refused to leave the stoke-hold until his men had been attended to.

Propping up the stout old chap behind so that he could not slip back
down the slippery steel ladder, as he only had the one arm now to hold
on by, the three of us reached the level of the engine-room all right,
the chief, resting here a moment to give a look round and a word to
Grummet, who of course was still in charge, telling him to slow down
still further and use all his spare steam for clearing the bilge, as the
sluice valves had been opened to prevent the fires being flooded out,
and the pumps were in good working order again.

Grummet promised to attend carefully to these directions, and a host of
others I cannot now recollect, poor Mr Stokes being as fussy and
fidgetty as he was fat, and in the habit of unintentionally worrying his
subordinates a good deal in this way, and the three of us again started
on our way upwards, the old chief leading, as before, and Mr Fosset and
I bringing up the rear very slowly, so as to prevent accident, when all
at once there was a fearful crash that echoed through my brain, followed
by a violent concussion of the air which nearly threw us all down the
engine-room ladder, though Mr Fosset and I were both hanging on to it
like grim death and supporting the whole weight of Mr Stokes between
us.

At the same instant, too, the crank shaft stopped revolving, all motion
of the machinery ceased, and the hatchway, with all the space around us,
was filled by a dense cloud of hot steam!

CHAPTER EIGHT.

ANCHORED.

Nor was this the worst, for hardly had we begun to draw breath again in
the stifling vapour-bath-like atmosphere surrounding us, ere we could
utter a cry, indeed, or exchange a word of speech with reference to what
had just occurred, there arose a sudden