The business would be crippled for a long time, and the firm would receive an ugly blow.
And yet it was not this which seemed to crush the determined little man, until it almost made his knees quiver.

This ship was to him more than a mere sum of money.

It was a work he had undertaken in honour of "the old" against "the new;" against the advice of his son, and with his father always in his thoughts, under whose eye he almost seemed to be working.

And now all was thus to come to such an untimely end.
The large engine belonging to the town managed to reach up just so high as to keep the ship's side wet as far as the gold stripe which surrounded her; but in under the stern the water could not get properly to work, and small points of flame soon began to break out, and the Consul could now see that the fire had caught the stern-post.
The side of the ship which was towards the fire became so hot that the steam rose from it every time the thin stream of water swept over it.
And now all at once a large part became covered with small sparkling flames, just as if sheets of gold leaf had been thrown against it, which crackled in the wind, and at last got fast hold in the oakum seams between the planking.

The hose played upon them and swept them away; in another moment they were there again.