As those in peril caught sight of the Mermaid settling down into the water, apparently from the clouds, their fears gave place to astonishment. So great was this that they ceased their cries of terror. Then, as they saw that the strange craft navigated the ocean, for the engines were started aboard the Mermaid, they began to call for help.
CHAPTER VIII
THE FLYING MERMAID DISABLED
“We’ll save you!” shouted Mr. Henderson, who was on the deck, while Mark was steering the craft. “Hold on a few minutes longer and we’ll be alongside!”
“They’re real! They’re real!” some of those aboard the burning ship could be heard to shout. Evidently more than one of them had taken the Mermaid for a delusion of their fear-crazed brain.
“They are real persons!” they called again and again. “They are coming to save us!”
Mr. Henderson ran his ship as near the burning craft as he dared. Then he called to the crew to leap into the water and swim to him. He, with Washington, Jack, Bill and Tom, stood ready to haul aboard any who were too weak to help themselves.
In a few minutes all of those left alive on the sailing vessel—fourteen in all—had come safely aboard the Mermaid. The ship was now completely enveloped in flames.
“Are there any more left on her?” asked Mr. Henderson of one who appeared to be a mate of the burning craft.
“Not a soul!” was the answer. “The captain and ten men perished in the flames. The fire broke out a week ago in the lower hold. We fought it as well as we could but it got the best of us. Then it suddenly broke through the decks, almost like an explosion, a little while ago, and the captain and others were lost, and so were our small boats. We managed to get aft but were about to give up when you appeared.”
“What ship is it and where are you from?”