The Survivors of the Chancellor by Jules Verne Read Free Book Online

little smuggling.
    I observed that Curtis was obliged for a moment or two
to clasp his hands tightly together behind his back to pre-
vent himself from seizing the unfortunate passenger by the
throat; but suppressing his indignation, he proceeded quietly,
though sternly, to interrogate him about the facts of the
case. Ruby only confirmed what I had already told him.
With characteristic Anglo-Saxon incautiousness he had
brought on board, with the rest of his baggage, a case con-
taining no less than thirty pounds of picrate, and had allowed
the explosive matter to be stowed in the hold with as little
compunction as a Frenchman would feel in smuggling a
single bottle of wine. He had not informed the captain of
the dangerous nature of the contents of the package, because
he was perfectly aware that he would have been refused per-
mission to bring the package on board.
    "Anyway," he said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "you
can't hang me for it; and if the package gives you so much
concern, you are quite at liberty to throw it into the sea.
My luggage is insured."
    I was beside myself with fury; and not being endowed
with Curtis's reticence and self-control, before he could in-
terfere to stop me, I cried out:
    "You fool! don't you know that there is fire on board?"
    In an instant I regretted my words. Most earnestly I
wished them unuttered. But it was too late — their effect
upon Ruby was electrical. He was paralyzed with terror;
his limbs stiffened convulsively; his eye was dilated; he
gasped for breath, and was speechless. All of a sudden he
threw up his arms, and, as though he momentarily expected
an explosion, he darted down from the poop, and paced
frantically up and down the deck, gesticulating like a mad-
man, and shouting:
    "Fire on board! Fire! Fire!"
    On hearing the outcry, all the crew, supposing that the
fire had now in reality broken out, rushed on deck; the rest
of the passengers soon joined them, and the scene that ensued
was one of the utmost confusion. Mrs. Kear fell down
senseless on the deck, and her husband, occupied in looking
after himself, left her to the tender mercies of Miss Herbey.
Curtis endeavored to silence Ruby's ravings, whilst I, in as
few words as I could, made M. Letourneur aware of the
extent to which the cargo was on fire. The father's first
thought was for Andre, but the young man preserved an ad-
mirable composure, and begged his father not to be alarmed,
as the danger was not immediate. Meanwhile the sailors
had loosened all the tacklings of the long-boat, and were pre-
paring to launch it, when Curtis's voice was heard peremp-
torily bidding them to desist; he assured them that the
fire had made no further progress; that Mr. Ruby had been
unduly excited and not conscious of what he had said; and
he pledged his word that when the right moment should ar-
rive he would allow them all to leave the ship; but that mo-
ment, he said, had not yet come.
    At the sound of a voice which they had learned to honor
and respect, the crew paused in their operations, and the
long-boat remained suspended in its place. Fortunately,
even Ruby himself in the midst of his ravings, had not
dropped a word about the picrate that had been deposited
in the hold; for although the mate had a power over the
sailors that Captain Huntly had never possessed, I feel cer-
tain that if the true state of the case had been known, noth-
ing on earth would have prevented some of them, in their
consternation, from effecting an escape. As it was, only
Curtis, Falsten, and myself were cognizant of the terrible
secret.
    As soon as order was restored, the mate and I joined
Falsten on the poop, where he had remained throughout the
panic, and where we found him with folded arms, deep in
thought, as it might be, solving some hard mechanical prob-
lem. He promised, at my request, that he would reveal
nothing of the new danger to which we were exposed
through Ruby's imprudence. Curtis himself took the re-
sponsibility of informing