Page:The Fate of Fenella (1892).djvu/259

 CHAPTER XX.

THROUGH FIRE AND WATER.

hours before the time Fenella beheld with fevered fancy the light cast by the burning ship over the illimitable waters, the Danic, with steam shut down, was slowly drifting outside Cork Harbor. She was waiting for the tender to come alongside to take off the mails and bear away the passengers who, having had enough of the open sea, preferred to take the short cut by train across Ireland and so home by Holyhead.

There had not chanced to be any special cause for quitting snug quarters on board the steamer. The Danic had made a splendid voyage. Not once had the "fiddles" appeared on the dining-table to the accompaniment of smashing crockery in the steward's pantry. Day after day the passengers had been able to sit out on their deck chairs enjoying the sunshine, the fresh breeze and the sparkling sea, through which for hours together the tireless dolphins swam, emulous of the vessel's voyant speed. Two days out they had passed close by a whale, who cheerily spouted farewell as they speeded by. 244