“you are sure of what you say, my lad?”
captain dunham put the question to ned after the lad had breathlessly related to him his alarming discovery. high up on the bridge, his face lined by care and sleepless nights, the captain looked far different from the gilded idol that he was in calm weather or in port. he was clad in oil-skins like any old salt on a whaler.
“absolutely, sir. i didn’t dare to say anything till i was quite positive.”
“very good, my lad,” said the captain, without betraying a trace of the grave alarm that he must have felt for the safety of his ship. “daniels,” he turned to a quartermaster, “send mr. briggs to me at once,—at once, do you hear?”
“aye, aye, sir.”
[137]
daniels hurried off on his errand. ned stood waiting the captain’s next orders.
“when mr. briggs comes on deck, i’m going to send you with him to show him where you discovered the fire, always supposing there is one,” said the captain. “of course, you haven’t said anything about this to anyone?”
“no, sir, of course not, only to coxswain taylor, who was with me.”
“that’s right. a report such as that spreading through the ship might cause untold trouble.”
mr. briggs, a big, active man, soon came bustling up. he saluted and awaited the captain’s orders.
“briggs, gunner’s-mate strong, here, tells me that he thinks he has discovered a fire in the forward port bunkers.”
mr. briggs nodded. for all the emotion that the two trained officers displayed they might have been discussing some ordinary matter of ship routine, instead of the vital danger which ned had brought to the captain’s attention.
[138]
“the forward bunkers on that side of the ship are next to the forward magazines for number one turret, are they not?”
“yes, sir.”
“you will have the intervening bulkhead flooded at once. strong tells me that he heard that the coal in that bunker was damp when it was shipped in san francisco. is that right?”
“it is, sir. it was the best we could get. i’ve been afraid of this very thing and have had men watching the bunkers since we sailed. the fire must have started at the top.”
“my idea exactly. the friction and disturbance caused by the ship’s rolling must have set it on fire. strong, take mr. briggs to the ventilator where you discovered the smoke. mr. briggs, will you make as speedy an examination as possible and report back to me? first, however, give orders to have the space between the magazine and the bunker flooded.”
“aye, aye, sir.”
[139]
followed by ned, the chief engineer turned from the bridge and made his way to the main deck. he instructed one of his assistant engineers to have the latter part of the captain’s orders carried out at once.
the young engineer asked no questions, although he raised his eyebrows at the order.
“i’ll see that it is done at once, sir,” said he and hastened off.
“now, my lad,” said mr. briggs, “show me where you saw this smoke issuing.”
ned lost no time in escorting the officer to the pipe from whence he had noted the alarming symptoms first. as they came abreast of the pipe, all doubt that a mistake might have been made was removed. puffs of sulphurous smoke were coming from it in a constant stream now. mr. briggs looked very grave.
“i’m sorry to say, strong, that your conclusions were certainly correct,” he said. “that bunker is on fire.”
[140]
captain dunham received the chief engineer’s report without moving a muscle of his face.
“we must take immediate steps to fight the fire,” he said. “the partition is flooded?”
“yes, sir.”
“very good. strong, you will go to the master-at-arms and tell him to assign you a squad of at least twenty men. they must be silent about their detail and you will instruct the master-at-arms to say nothing. you will report to mr. briggs in the fire-room and he will direct you what to do.”
“aye, aye, sir.”
“carry on.”
ned hastened off while the two officers remained in grave consultation on the bridge.
“nasty situation, briggs,” said captain dunham.
“very, sir. the storm makes it all the worse. it is dangerous work in the bunkers in such weather as this. there’s some fear, too, of the[141] coal sliding as the men get it out, even though we’ve got it timbered.”
“then your plan is to empty the bunker?”
“if necessary, sir. half-way measures will be no good in a case of this kind. we shall have to get the coal out from below till we reach the fire.
“very good. i leave the matter in your hands. try not to let the news leak out, although i suppose it is bound to.”
“i’m afraid so, sir. you can’t keep the firemen quiet, and they are bound to know about it as soon as the special squad goes to work.”
“well, do the best you can, briggs.”
“you can rely on me, sir. that strong is a smart young fellow. if it hadn’t been for him we might not have known of the blaze till it was too late.”
“he is one of the brightest fellows on board,” said the captain warmly, “that is why i am putting him in charge of this squad. don’t let them expose themselves unnecessarily to danger, briggs.”
[142]
“i will not, sir.”
mr. briggs saluted and departed below. in less time than he would have thought possible ned and his twenty picked men joined him below. among the fire-fighters was herc. they were all responsible men, chosen for their ability and experience. they must have known that their task was going to be difficult to a degree and dangerous, too. but no traces of anxiety appeared on their faces. such is the training of a man-o’-war’s-man. he is taught not to flinch from any duty but to obey all orders implicitly, even though he may sometimes doubt their wisdom.
the fire-room was new territory to most of the men on the special fire-fighting squad. it was a place of darkness illumined only by glaring lights which shone through a haze of black coal dust like lamps in a fog, of sweating, half-naked firemen, of gleaming tongues of flame and hissing jets of steam, of heat almost insupportable; and[143] the air was filled with a vibration that hummed like the bass string of some gigantic viol under the tremendous force imprisoned in the high-pressure boilers.
mr. briggs explained to the men what they were to do. their task was to get into the bunkers and remove the coal ton by ton till the burning top part was reached. it was his plan, once this was accomplished, to flood the bunker by high-pressure pumps and extinguish the fire in the smoldering coal.
sacks were brought and the men crawled into the bunker in squads of three at a time, and as fast as the coal was shoveled into the sacks it was dragged out by those remaining outside and dumped into an extra bunker which happened to be almost empty.
the heat was fearful and the men in the bunker could not stand it for more than fifteen minutes at a time; hence the squad took frequent turns at the work.
[144]
“phew! this is awful,” panted herc, as he and ned, black and begrimed as any miners, worked side by side in the bunkers. “it’s worse than being in an oven.”
“stick to your job, herc, and don’t talk so much,” counseled ned, who was wet and streaming perspiration. “we’re working to save the ship,—isn’t that enough for you?”
“suppose the heat should reach the magazine?”
“it can’t; to provide against just such emergencies there is a partition all around the magazine which can be flooded.”
“it’s flooded now?”
“it is.”
“i’m glad of that. i wouldn’t like to be blown up.”
“as if you would ever know what hit you!”
in silence they shoveled on till their “trick” was finished. then in crawled their relief, and so, hour after hour, with a brief intermission for dinner, the work went on. it was the hardest[145] task either of the boys had ever tackled. in the bunker the air was foul with gases and thick with coal dust, which got in their eyes, nostrils and mouths, blinding and choking them. their hands grew sore and they ached cruelly in every limb. but they stuck doggedly to their task, “working to save the ship.”
begrimed with black, and panting, men would stumble out of the bunker as their “trick” was finished and sink down exhausted. but in a few minutes they would be at it again, striving to keep up their good spirits by laughing and joking over their task.
“from now on we’ll be the ‘black watch’,” said ned.
“the black diamonds, you mean,” retorted herc. “there’s one thing on earth i’d never be.”
“what’s that?”
“a fireman. that isn’t a job, it’s punishment.”
“just think what this fire-room must be like in[146] time of action under forced draught!” struck in another man. “i’ve heard that the temperature runs up to one hundred and twenty degrees sometimes.”
“wow! they’d bring me out a grease spot,” ejaculated herc.
supper was eaten in the fire-room and a brief rest followed, then at it again they went. and all the time it grew hotter and hotter, till it seemed that flesh and blood could not stand the strain much longer. only their healthy bodies and the clean lives they lived enabled them to stand up to the work as they did. to make their task harder, too, the ship was still rolling heavily, and it was difficult to stand upright at times.
ned and herc had just entered the “black hole,” as they called it, to take up their job once more, when ned’s ear caught a rumbling sound. the ship gave a heavier roll than usual at that instant, and the next moment ned grasped herc’s arm convulsively.
[147]
“herc! come on! get out of here, quick! for your life!”
together both lads made a leap for the entrance of the bunker. as they did so, behind them there sounded a mighty roar, like the voice of an avalanche.
ned found himself outside the bunker as, dislodged by the rolling of the ship, tons of coal came sliding down into the place where they had been digging.
it was not till that instant that he realized that herc was not beside him.
he had been too slow to escape the collapse of the coal and was trapped in a living tomb. ned’s senses swam, his vision blurred, and for an instant he thought he was going to collapse.
the other men, alarmed at the sudden roar from within the bunker, rushed forward. ned’s glaring eyes and his terrible expression as he pointed to the bunker apprised them that some accident had happened.
[148]
“what’s up?” cried one of them. “what’s happened, ship-mate?”
“the coal—the coal came down on us—and—and—herc’s inside!” choked out ned frenziedly.
