So soon as Philip had given his orders that the women and children
should be properly clothed (which many of them were not), he went
again forward to superintend the labour of the seamen, who already
began to show symptoms of fatigue, from the excess of their exertions;
but many of the soldiers now offered to work at the pumps, and their
services were willingly accepted. Their efforts were in vain. In about
half an hour more the hatches were blown up with a loud noise, and a
column of intense and searching flame darted up perpendicularly from
the hold, high as the lower mast-head. Then was heard the loud shriek
of the women, who pressed their children in agony to their breasts,
as the seamen and soldiers who had been working the pumps, in their
precipitate retreat from the scorching flames, rushed aft, and fell
among the huddled crowd.
"Be steady, my lads--steady, my good fellows," exclaimed Philip;
"there is no danger yet. Recollect, we have our boats and raft, and
although we cannot subdue the fire, and save the vessel, still we
may, if you are cool and collected, not only save ourselves, but
everyone--even the poor infants, who now appeal to you as men to
exert yourselves in their behalf.
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