BARUME- HONOUR.



  Suddenly there is a trampling of
hurrying feet between decks, and a
sailor rushes up the companion and
whispers to the officer of the watch,
who descends with a scared face; in
five minutes more a terrible cry rings
from stem to stern, waking the sound-
est sleeper aboard-" Fire !-Fire !"
  Can you form any idea of the horror
and confusion that ensue, when hun-
dreds of human creatures wake from
perfect security, to find themselves face
to face with death I I tlink not. No
one can realize the scene, except those
few who have witnessed it once, and
who see it in their dreams till they die.
No man alive can say for certain if his
nerve will stand such a shock, and the
bravest may well be prond, if he
emerges from such an ordeal without
betraying shameful weakness. I speak
of a mixed and undisciplined crowd
-not of trained soldiers; we have
more than one proof of what these can
do and endure. I think, that those
who died at Thermopyla3 were less
worthy of the crown of valour, than
the troopers who formed upon deck and
stood steady in their ranks, till every
woman and child was safe in the boats,
and till the Birkenhead went down un-
der their feet.
  Nevertheless, at such emergencies, a
few are always found who single them-
selves out from the rest, as if determined
to prove what daring and devotion man-
hood can display at extremity. First
and foremost among these, on this oc-
casion, was Alan Wyverne. He never
lost his presence of mind for an instant.
Yet he had accidentally become possess-
ed of a secret that few on board had any
idea of. English powder was at a high
premium in America, just then; and the
captain had shipped, at his own private
risk, and against his orders, enough to
blow all the fore part of the vessel to
shivers Alan reached his cabin before
the first upward rush came, and made
his preparations deliberately.  They
were very short and simple. He open-
ed a certain steel casket and took out a
packet and a miniature, which he se-
cured in his breast; then passing his arm
through the port-hole, he dropped the



casket into the sea; a sharp pang of
pain flitted across his face as he did so,
but he never hesitated; that one fact
told plainly enough his opinion of the
crisis. Then he buckled round his waist
a broad leather belt, from which, among
other instruments, hung a long sheathed
bunting-knife; he put some biscuits and
cakes of portable soup, and a large flask
of brandy, into the pockets of a thick
boat-cloak, which he threw over his arn;
then, after casting round a keen hur-
ried glance, as if to assure himself he
had forgotten nothing, he left the cabin,
and with some difficulty made his way
on deck.
  It was a ghastly chaos of tumult and
terror-a babel of shouts, and cries, and
groans, and orders to which no one gave
heed, while over all arose the roar and
hiss of escaping steam, for they had
stopped the engines at the first alarm,
and the Panama lay in the trough of
the sea-a hugh helpless log; though
the weather was by no means rough,
the "rollers" never quite subside out
there in mid-ocean. The flames begin-
ning to burst out of one of the fore hatch-
ways, threw a weird, fantastic glare on
half-dressed, struggling figures, and on
white faces convulsed with eagerness or
fear; and all the while the clear autumn
moon looked down serenely indifferent
to human suffering; even so, she looked
down on Adam's agony, on the night
that followed the Fall.
  Personal terror and the consciousness
of guilt, had made the captain utterly
helpless already; but the chief-officer
was a cool-headed Scotcbman, a thor-
ough seaman, and as brave as Bayard;
he was exerting himself to the utmost,
backed by a few sailors and passengers,
to keep the gangway clear, so as to low-
er the boats regularly. In spite of their
efforts, the first sank almost as soon as
she touched the water, stove in against
the side through the slipping or break-
ing of a " fall." At last they did get
the launch fairly afloat, and were equally
successful with the two remaining cut-
ters.
  There was manhood and generosity
enough in the crowd to allow most of
the women and children to be lowered



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