SHIP DESERTED BY CREW. 81

might be able, after placing the captain in the boat,
to lower her in safety.

‘The ship on fire,’ exclaimed Captain Willis,
when I told him what had occurred, ‘ Heave water
down the hold. Do all you can to save our rich
freight, that must not be lost on any account,’

T told him that we had done what we could,
and that the rest of the crew had already deserted
the vessel.

The captain sank back on his pillow, ‘I have no
strength to move,’ he murmured, ‘and you and
Paul cannot lift me.’

‘We will try Massa Captain,’ said Paul.

I proposed that we should lift him in his cot

through the skylight. The captainatlength agreed. *
to this. I sprang on deck, intending to secure a ‘."

tackle to the main boom, by which we might carry
out my proposal with greater ease. What was my
horror on reaching the deck, to find that the blacks,
on quitting the falls, had neglected to secure them,
and that the boat having fallen into the water had
been washed away and capsized. The flames, too,
which were now ascending through the main-hatch-
way had caught the other boat, and already her

bows were burned through.
6