Page:Harper's New Monthly Magazine - v108.djvu/318



it was seen that the entire cabin was awash. Floating about were pieces of splintered furniture, scraps of paper, and two or three sodden articles of clothing. There was nothing resembling a body, and the lieutenant made no further investigation.

By this time the boat's crew had dragged on board the case of guncotton and the other apparatus. It was decided to blow up the derelict, as the hull was too much water-soaked to make a fire possible. When the main-hatch was opened it was seen that the hold contained hard wood in logs. It was this which had kept the shattered hull afloat.

Under the lieutenant's directions the boat's crew work expeditiously. The gun-cotton with its detonating primer was lowered into the hold as far as possible, and the two firing-wires connected. Then the ends of the wires were taken in the boat to a safe distance. When all was in readiness the first lieutenant stood up with his finger on the key. There was a moment of silence, then with a dull roar a column of water and dust, intermingled with fragments of deck planking and logs, shot high in the air.

The small boat heeled over, almost gunwale under, but skilful handling brought the bow around in time to meet a huge, curling, foam-capped wave that came tumbling from the spot where the dere-