"I called for Jones to slack off the after lines, and then I ran as far as I could into the smoke and managed to cast off forward, getting nearly drowned with the engine water. Jackson came aboard and worked like mad. The stern lines were cast off, but before we could do anything the ship began to swing right down upon the barge. The slip was too narrow to get the dynamite past the vessel, and there she was now surging ahead upon it. She had both blocked the slip and surged into it. I began to yell to the men standing about to get away from the place before the explosion. They had crowded about as close as they could to see the fire, not knowing anything about what was on the barge.
"Jackson rushed aft and howled to the fireboat to pass a line, as the wind was now blowing her slowly across the slip and right upon the dynamite. Every one who could understand me began to run. The dock cleared off quickly. Then, just as I was about to jump ashore myself, I heard a voice close to the rail.
"'Aw, say, Bo, give me a heavin' line--I kin swim acrost the slip--den hurry up an' bend de hawser, youse can heave her over easy enough. Don't get nutty.'
"I saw Willie standing there, and without further ado I threw him the end of a small line. He jumped in without a word and swam rapidly across the narrow stretch of water to the other dock. A man on the pier reached down and took the line from the lad. I had already bent on the hawser, and it went across lively. Then taking the end to the midship capstan, I got old Jones to hold the turns while I walked her around as fast as I could.
"But I was not strong enough to warp a heavy ship across a slip even in still water. The ship surged ahead slowly in spite of all I could do, and Jackson grabbed a capstan bar to help. It was a poor chance at best, but we worked on. I caught a glimpse of a slight figure working upon the deck of the barge, throwing cases of powder overboard. A man appeared with him, but I could not take time to see much. The boxes were cases of about a hundred pounds each, and they were rapidly going overboard, and with the tide through the dock. Minutes passed, but nothing happened. We seemed to be getting way upon the ship, and Jackson swore and strove mightily to save her, with no thought of leaving even in the face of a terrific explosion. We would have gone clear all right but for the fact we had our port anchor over and hanging from the cathead. We had warped the ship clear of the barge, and her bow swung over, the line being too far aft and the fire and water too dangerous to work in forward. The fluke of the anchor swept a pile of boxes--about three hundred pounds---and then came the crash. It was terrific. The fluke was clear of the ship's hull by several feet, but it was blown through the deck, the five-thousand-pound anchor flung like a toy through her side. She shook from end to end. We were all blown flat, stunned, although we had many feet of solid vessel between us and the blast.
"When we came around from the shock of the explosion Jackson had the pleasure of seeing his ship without a bowsprit, her nose blown clear off, but the fire was blown out. There was not even much smoke left. The barge had entirely vanished.
"The firemen came aboard afterward, and so did many shipmasters, whose vessels lay in the vicinity. Jackson met them dumbly. He said nothing.
"'Good thing they got the dynamite overboard quick enough,' said Captain Smith of the Sunnerdun. 'That boy, whoever he was, was all right. The watchman ran away just before the smash.'
"'What boy?' asked a fireman.
"But it was no use to tell us what boy--we knew, we felt, it all along.