“All right,” he threatened. “I’ll see to you, too!” and turned to run for the hatch.
The men grinned. The Hudson, trying to bring its monitor to bear on the burning woodwork of the Sachsen, shot a terrific stream, roaring and threshing, close to their heads. Farley said: “That darn fool’ll be sweepin’ us off here in a minute. We’d better get inside out o’ this an’ help in there.”
They retreated aft for shelter, dragging their hose; and by doing so they left the forward deck to the flames that were blown over the Sachsen by a steady breeze.
“All right,” he threatened. “I’ll see to you, too!”
See page 18
II
MEANWHILE, Lieutenant Moore had found Captain Keighley and the “Jiggers,” with their two lines, working busily in the choke of cotton smoke in the deep hold, playing one pipe on the heart of the fire and with the other sprinkling the bales around it. And Captain Keighley, with his helmet awry on his head and a smile of contempt slanting his mouth, feeling the Hudson’s eight pumps behind him, was playing a game with that fire, happily. The screeches of the stewardess and the flight of the ship’s crew had not alarmed him. He was used to the sight of blind fright; he saw the flames before him confined and beaten back; and he knew that for any fire that might develop behind him, the Hudson was a park of cannon drawn up in reserve.