to this yarn; and what friend would
throw your years and your weariness in your face? We didn't grumble at
her. To us aft, at least, it seemed as though we had been born in her,
reared in her, had lived in her for ages, had never known any other
ship. I would just as soon have abused the old village church at home
for not being a cathedral.

"And for me there was also my youth to make me patient. There was all
the East before me, and all life, and the thought that I had been tried
in that ship and had come out pretty well. And I thought of men of old
who, centuries ago, went that road in ships that sailed no better, to
the land of palms, and spices, and yellow sands, and of brown nations
ruled by kings more cruel than Nero the Roman and more splendid than
Solomon the Jew. The old bark lumbered on, heavy with her age and the
burden of her cargo, while I lived the life of youth in ignorance and
hope. She lumbered on through an interminable procession of days; and
the fresh gilding flashed back at the setting sun, seemed to cry out
over the darkening sea the words painted on her stern, '_Judea_, London.
Do or Die.'

"Then we entered the Indian Ocean and steered northerly for Java Head.
The winds were light. Weeks slipped by. She crawled on, do or die, and
people at home began to think of posting us as overdue.

"One Saturday evening, I being off duty, the men asked me to give them
an extra bucket of water or so--for washing clothes. As I did not wish
to screw on the fresh-water pump so late, I went forward whistling, and
with a key in my hand to unlock the forepeak scuttle, intending to serve
the water out of a spare tank we kept there.

"The smell down below was as unexpected as it was frightful. One would
have thought hundreds of paraffin-lamps had been flaring and smoking in
that hole for days. I was glad to get out. The man with me coughed and
said, 'Funny smell, sir.' I answered negligently, 'It's good for the
health, they say,' and walked aft.

"The first thing I did was to put my head down the square of the midship
ventilator. As I lifted the lid a visible breath, something like a thin
fog, a puff of faint haze, rose from the opening. The ascending air was
hot, and had a heavy, sooty, paraffiny smell. I gave one sniff, and
put down the lid gently. It was no use choking myself. The cargo was on
fire.

"Next day she began to smoke in earnest. You see it was to be expected,
for though the coal was of a safe kind