.

THE MYSTERIOUS CARGO.
"Wake up, Cole! The ship's on fire!" It was young Ready's hollow voice, as cool, however, as though he were telling me I was late for breakfast.

I started up and sought him wildly in the darkness.
"You're joking," was my first thought and utterance; for now he was lighting my candle, and blowing out the match with a care that seemed in itself a contradiction.
"I wish I were," he answered.

"Listen to that!" He pointed to my cabin ceiling; it quivered and creaked; and all at once I was as a deaf man healed.
One gets inured to noise at sea, but to this day it passes me how even I could have slept an instant in the abnormal din which I now heard raging above my head.

Sea-boots stamped; bare feet pattered; men bawled; women shrieked; shouts of terror drowned the roar of command.
"Have we long to last ?" I asked, as I leaped for my clothes.
"Long enough for you to dress comfortably.