"Can I hand you some water, ma'm?" asked Jenks.
"What made you come with us, you rogue?" she asked, without turning her head.
"I was with ye from the start, s'help me," said Jenks. "I only goes with the other side when I feared they'd kill all hands."
"Well, it's a good thing for you, you contemptible rascal," she answered in an even tone.
All of a sudden I noticed a flicker of light above the cabin of the Sovereign. It died away for an instant and then flared again, Miss Sackett laughed convulsively.
"Look," she said.
At that instant a red glare flashed up from the derelict. It shone on her maintopsail and staysails and lit up the ocean around her.
"Faith, but she's afire," cried Chips. "Look at them."
I turned the boat's head around and ran her off before the wind, hauling up again and standing for the wreck to get near her. Miss Sackett seized my arm and held it fast.
"Don't go back for them!" she cried. "You shall not go back for them!"
"I haven't the least intention of going for them," I answered; "I only wanted to get close enough to see what they'd do. Did you set her afire?" I asked bluntly.
"Of course I did," said the girl, passionately. "Do you suppose I didn't hear them telling you I should have to remain aboard? What else was there left for me to do? Would you have me fall into their hands?"
"Lord save ye, but ye did the right thing," said Chips. Johnson echoed this sentiment.
"An' I knew ye ware up to somethin' of the kind when ye went below," said Jenks, "fer I smelled the smoke and thought to stop it, but there ware too much risk as it was to add fire, so I had to step out o' the crowd an' jine ye. I never did nothin' in the fracas, as ye know, except get hurt."
In ten minutes we were close aboard the derelict, and her cabin was a mass of flame. Figures of men showed against the light amidships, and I finally made out all hands getting out a spar and barrels to make a raft. The oil in the cargo, however, was too quick for them. It had become ignited aft and had cut off all retreat by the stove-in boat. Several explosions followed, and the flames roared high above the maintopsail. Journegan, Andrews, and another man were seen making their way forward across the sunken deck. The heat drove them to the topgallant forecastle and in a few minutes we could see all standing there near the windlass. The bitts sheltered them from the heat.
The oil in the ship was not submerged in the after part, owing to her trimming by the head. It had been the last stuff put aboard and was well up under her cabin deck. Even that which was awash caught after the fire had started to heat things up well, and the entire after part of the Sovereign was a mass of flames. They gave forth a brilliant light, glowing red and making the sky appear dark beyond. Great clouds of sparks from the woodwork above soared into the heavens. The light must have been visible for miles.
There was absolutely no escape for the men aboard now, except by getting away on some float. Journegan, Dalton, and England were working hard at something on the forecastle which appeared to be a raft. The one they had started aft they had been forced to abandon after an explosion. The carpenter's tools being below in the hold when the ship filled, they had nothing but their knives and a small hatchet left to work with.
Suddenly Mr. Bell made us out in the darkness less than a quarter of a mile distant. He screamed for us to come back and take him off the derelict.
"Pay no attention to him," said Chips.
I hesitated, with the tiller in my hand. The end of those men seemed so horrible that I forgot for the instant what they had done.
"You shall not go back for them while I'm aboard this boat," said Miss Sackett, quietly, from her seat beside me, and she seized the tiller firmly to luff the craft.
"I didn't intend to," I answered; "yet that man's cry had so much of the woman in it that it was instinctive to turn."
"Instinctive or not, here we stay. He is the biggest devil of the lot," answered the girl. "There's some horrible game in getting us away. I'm certain of it, but don't know what it can be. We'll find out when it's too late."
"We might take them aboard one at a time and bind them," I suggested. This was greeted with growlings from Chips and Johnson. Even Jenks declared it would never do, and the other sailors made antagonistic remarks. There was nothing to do but keep away and let them save themselves as best they might.
We sailed slowly around the wreck, watching her burn. Hour after hour she flamed and hissed, the heat being felt at a hundred fathoms distant. And all the while, the sharp, piping voice of our third mate screamed shrilly for succor.
After midnight the Sovereign had burned clear to the water line from aft to amidships. Even her rails along the waist were burning fiercely with the oil that had been thrown upon them by the explosions of the heated barrels. And as she burned out her oil, she sank lower and lower in the water until she gave forth huge clouds of steam and smoke instead of flaring flames. In the early hours of the morning, we were still within two hundred fathoms of her; and she showed nothing in the gray light save the mainmast and the topgallant forecastle. Her canvas had gone, and the bare black pole of her mast stuck out of the sea, which now flowed deep around the foot of it. Upon the blackened forecastle head, five human forms crouched behind the sheltering bulk of the windlass. They were silent now and motionless. While I looked, one of them staggered to his feet and stretched out his hands above his head, gazing at the light in the east. It was Andrews. He raised his clenched fists and shook them fiercely at us and at the gray sky above. Then over the calm, silent ocean came the fierce, raving curses of the doomed villain.
A gentle air was stirring the swell in the east, which soon filled our sail. We kept the boat's head away until she pointed in the direction of the African cape. And so we sailed away, with the echoes of that villain's voice ringing in our ears, calling forth fierce curses upon the God he had denied.
I turned away from the horrible spectacle of that grisly hulk with its human burden. As I did so, my eyes met those of Miss Sackett. She lowered hers, took out her handkerchief and, bowing over, buried her face in it, crying as though her heart would break.
XVII
"If you'll pass the pannikin, I'll take a drink, sir," said Jenks, after the sun had risen and warmed the chilly air of the southern ocean.
I tossed the old man-o'-war's man the measure, and he proceeded to draw a cupful from the water breaker, which was full and lay amidships.
"It's an uncommon quare taste the stuff has, sure enough," said he, after he had laid aside his quid and drank a mouthful, "Try a bit, Tom," he went on, and passed the pannikin to a sailor next him.
"You're always lookin' fer trouble, old man," said the sailor, draining off the cupful.
"An' bloomin' well ready to get out of it by any way he can," added another. "Fill her up agin an' let me have some. This sun is most hot, in spite of the breeze. Blast me, Jenks, but you're a suspicious one. It's a wonder you ever go to sleep."
The young sailor, Tom, put down the cup and watched Jenks draw it full again. Then he grew pale.
"Hold on a bit with that water, you men. There's something wrong with it," he said. He gulped and placed his hand over his abdomen, while a spasm of pain passed over his features.
"My God!" he muttered, and doubled up. Then he vomited violently and his spasms increased.
I saw Chips turn white under his tan, and Johnson look with staring eyes at the water breaker, as though it were a ghost.
"Knock in the head," I said, "and let's see what's inside of it."