The Last Cruise of the Spitfire Part 28

"Help! Stop the boat! Help!"

No one paid the slightest attention.

"Pull away, boys," I heard Captain Hannock call out; and an instant later the jolly-boat had left the schooner's side!

In vain I repeated my cry. If the master of the Spitfire heard me, he gave no heed, and as for the sailors, they were too busy doing their duty to give me a thought.

Deserted! Left to fight for life amidst the flames! Oh, how bitterly I realized the awful position in which I was placed!

The wind blew in such a manner that soon the jolly-boat was hidden from view by the smoke. Evidently all had left the schooner in safety but myself.

What was I to do now? Had my hands been free I could have done much, but as it was I was next to helpless. For a moment I stood irresolute upon the stern. Should I take a plank or what ever came to hand, jump overboard, and trust to luck?

Suddenly a wild cry startled me.

"Save me! Save me!"

I looked, and was astonished to see Phil Jones standing terror-stricken near the companionway!

"Phil Jones!" I cried.

"Oh, Foster, is that you?" exclaimed the cabin boy, and he came running to my side.

He was deadly pale, and shook so that he could hardly speak.

"Oh, Foster, where are the others?" he continued.

"Gone!" I replied.

"Gone!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "And we are left behind?"

"Yes; the cowards have taken the small boat, and we are left without any."

"What shall we do?"

"I was just trying to think. The fire is gaining headway fast."

"Can't we put it out?"

I shook my head.

"It might have been put out at the start, but it's too fierce now."

"There ain't any other boat," he went on. "There used to be, but it got stove to pieces."

"I can do but little with my hands chained together," said I. "Do you know where the key to this pair of handcuffs is?"

"On a nail in the cabin. I saw Captain Hannock put it there."

"Come, show me."

I ran into the cabin, Jones following. Here all was confusion, as if the inmates had been forced to leave in a great hurry. The captain of the Spitfire had left nothing undone to make the loss of the schooner appear purely accidental.

"Here is the key," said Phil, producing it. "Let me take them off."

In a moment he had the handcuffs loose, and I slipped them off.

"They should be on Captain Hannock," I remarked, as we hurried on deck.

"Indeed they should," replied the cabin boy, though he did not fully understand me. "I was dead tired, and went to sleep on the pantry floor, and no one came near me to wake me up. I suppose the old man would just as soon see me dead as alive."

"I, too, was left alone," I replied. "Captain Hannock and Lowell set the ship afire, and they didn't want any one to know it."

"I guess you're right," was Phil's reply. "I overheard Lowell speaking about something of the kind, though I could not quite make it out."

By this time we had reached the stern, where the smoke was not so dense.

By the flames that were gradually working their way through the cracks in the deck, where the oak.u.m had burnt away, I knew it would not be long before the entire ship would be enveloped. If anything was to be done it must be done quickly.

"We will have to make a raft," I said. "Get all the ropes you can find near at hand."

The cabin boy willingly complied. Now that he had a companion he did not appear so frightened, and he worked with a will.

CHAPTER XX.

ON THE RAFT.

While Phil was looking for ropes, I collected all the planking I could, and to this added a door or two. Then we tied all tightly together, placing the doors on top as a sort of deck.

Fortunately I was thoughtful enough to build the concern with one end resting on the top of the rail. Had I not done so it is doubtful if we could have got the raft over the side. When completed it was all of twelve feet square.

"Now take that pole and help pry her over," said I to Phil. "Try to make her strike right side up."

He did as I directed. At a favorable moment we gave the final push, and the raft went over with a mighty splash.

"She's all right," cried Phil joyfully. "Now what?"

"Get some stores together as quick as you can and jump aboard," I replied. "I'll look after some water."

[Ill.u.s.tration: ON THE RAFT. ]

Picking up one of the poles Phil had thoughtfully taken aboard, I placed it against the stern of the schooner, and we shoved the raft away as far as possible. Then the cabin boy took a board, and using it as an oar, propelled the clumsy craft still further, until we were at least a hundred feet off.

"There she goes! That's the last of the Spitfire!"

As the cabin boy uttered the cry there was a tremendous crash on board the schooner. Both of the masts had come down together.