"We shall have to leave without anything to drink, for we can't get one of the scuttle-butts on the boat."
"I'll stand a pretty good scorchin' afore startin' like that," Bob said decidedly, "'cause you see I know what it is to be thirsty. Fill half a dozen of the fire-buckets while I hunt after bottles."
During all this time the smoke had been pouring from the fore hatchway in dense clouds, apparently giving evidence of some mighty conflagration below; but before a supply of water could be put on the yawl it had fined down to a thin curl of vapor, and to this Jim called Bob's attention just as they were preparing to lower the boat.
"It looks as if somethin' had put the fire out," he said; and Bob replied, as he let go the davit-falls:
"Make fast there, lads, an' I'll take a look below. We don't want to abandon the brig while there's a chance of standin' by her."
The old sailor went forward, the boys remaining aft ready to lower away at a moment's notice, and in a few seconds, to the surprise of all, he was seen going below.
"Now, that's what I call queer!" Jim said after five minutes had passed and Bob did not make his appearance. "He couldn't stay down there very long if the fire amounted to much."
"Perhaps he's been suffocated and can't get back," Harry suggested in a low, tremulous tone.
This idea was sufficient to alarm the other boys, and stopping only long enough to make the falls fast they rushed forward, reaching the fore hatchway just as Bob began to ascend.
"Is the fire very big?" Jim asked; and the reply astonished them quite as much as had the explosion.