"Fire! Fire!"
It was a fearful cry—doubly fearful on a ship hundreds of miles from land—and my face blanched as I sprang to my feet.
Could it be possible—was the Spitfire in flames?
"Fire! fire!" came that dreadful cry once more.
Then came loud voices issuing orders and the rush of the sailors' feet.
In vain I tried to catch sight of some one. The men, in a perfect panic, rushed hither and thither, but no one paid any attention to me.
"On deck there!" I heard Lowell shout.
"Where is the fire?" burst from half a dozen throats in chorus.
"In the hold—it is one mass of flames!"
"Can't we put it out?" questioned one of the sailors.