Page:Rover Boys on Land and Sea.djvu/266

248 The captain looked, and then ran for his spy glass.

"The Golden Wave is afire!" he exclaimed. "That light is coming up out of the cabin!"

"The wreck is on fire!" shouted Tom, and this cry brought everybody out once more.

With remarkable rapidity the light grew brighter, until the heavens and the entire bay were lit up by the conflagration. There was a strong wind blowing, which carried the sparks to the jungle back of the ship. Listening intently, they could occasionally hear the roaring and crackling of the flames.

"The ship is doomed, that is certain," said Sam. "I wonder if all who were on board escaped?"

"The fire has caught in the brushwood on the shore," announced Captain Blossom, who had continued to use the spyglass.

"Can you see any of the men moving around?" questioned Dora.

"I thought I saw one or two, but I am not certain. Most of the men must have escaped, but if they were drunk, as Gibson says, perhaps, some have been caught like rats in a trap."

The flames continued to roar upward, and toward the island back of the ship, for over an hour. During that time they heard two dull