He looked around at the empty sea. It made him shiver to think that somewhere on that desolate expanse was a boat full of castaways looking in vain for succor.
CHAPTER XL.
THE RESCUE OF MR. JUKES.
“How did the fire happen?” asked Mr. Brown of the wireless man of the Halcyon as they rowed back to the ship, for the wind had now entirely dropped.
“Well, it all came about so blessed quickly that I doubt if anyone knows just what the start of it was,” came the reply. “The skipper thought he could fight it (Here Mr. Brown nodded knowingly to Jack as if to say, “I told you so”), and we battled with it for a long time. The fire affected my dynamos, I guess, for my current was miserably weak.”
“I noticed that, all right,” said Jack.
“But you caught it though. Lucky for us you did. Well, to continue. The old man,—Mr. Jukes, I mean, was furious. He wouldn’t hear of abandoning the ship.
“He wanted to fight the fire to the last moment. But he sent his son off in a boat. The fog had lifted a bit, and we thought it would be no job at all to pick them up. But then the smother shut down again, and when it lifted and we were forced to leave the ship, there wasn’t a sign of that boat high or low.”
The prostrate figure of Mr. Jukes, who had been sedulously attended by the sailors, stirred lightly and he gave a moan. Suddenly he sat bolt upright.