as of course a length of fuse composed of spun-yarn well
coated with damp powder, now fizzing and spluttering and smoking as the
fire swiftly travelled along it. So rapidly did the fire travel indeed,
that during the second or so that the desperado paused in surprise at my
unexpected appearance, it reached his fingers, causing him to drop it to
the deck with a muttered curse. I knew that in twenty or thirty seconds
at most that hissing train of fire would run along the guiding line of
the fuse down the hatchway to the powder in which the other end of it
was certain to be buried; and bounding forward I placed one foot upon
the blazing fuse as I dealt a heavy downward stroke with the hilt of my
cutlass upon the upturned temple of the man who, crouching before me,
was clearly on the point of springing to his feet. Then, dashing down
my cutlass as the fellow sank back with a groan upon the deck, I
wrenched my still open knife from my neck, and, while the struggling
flame scorched and seared the sole of my naked foot, slashed the blade
quickly through the fuse, and with the same movement whirled the severed
and unlighted part as far away from me as possible. This done, I knew
that the danger was past; and, drawing the short burning fragment of
fuse from beneath my foot, I carefully deposited it in the lantern,
where it instantly flamed itself harmlessly away. My next act was to
secure the remainder of the fuse and cautiously withdraw it from the
dark hatchway down which it led; and, this safely accomplished, I closed
the aperture by drawing over the hatch, and then sat down to nurse my
seared and blistered foot and to await the progress of events; my
companion or adversary, or whatever he should be rightly called, still
lying motionless where he had fallen, with a large blue lump on his
white temple from which a thin stream of blood slowly oozed.

During the few brief seconds that had elapsed between my entrance into
the cabin and the flinging of myself upon one of its sofas, I had lost
all cognisance of what was happening elsewhere; but as I took my
scorched foot upon my knee and ruefully contemplated its injuries, I
once more became aware of the sounds of conflict on deck; the fierce,
confused stamping of many feet; the cries and ejaculations of
encouragement or dismay; the quick jar and clash of blade upon blade;
the occasional explosion of a pistol; the dull, crushing sound of
unwarded blows; the sharp scream of agon