Page:The Wreck of a World - Grove - 1890.djvu/58

42 the point of swamping, it yet forged through the boiling waters until it gained the smooth shallows under our bank. Need I say that the pilot was my brave Aurelia?

We leapt on board, only just in time to escape the rush of the foremost engine. Gell, who had picked up a rifle, aimed at the monster, fired, and sent the bullet only too truly into the boiler. For there issued from the shot-hole, just as it exploded, such a jet of boiling water and steam as to scald us severely even fifty yards away.

We took the oars, and the intrepid girl whose strength and nerve had been so sorely tried sank in the stern sheets. A few minutes more and we landed in safety among the crowds of our fellow citizens who had flocked to our welcome. But we could feel little kindness, though much pity, for the ignoble men, who too cowardly to defend themselves had been so ready to sacrifice their defenders, and received their congratulations in silence, and with eyes fixed on the ground, as we walked up the thronging street. At last a little girl of about seven years put her small hand in mine, and said, simply: "Thank you, sir, so much!"