"Have a boat ready, Mr. Comly, and prepare to go on board with half a
dozen men."

"Ay, ay, sir."

"May I go with you?" asked Ridge, eagerly.

"Certainly, if the Captain says so."

But, to the young trooper's disappointment, Captain Boldwood refused
permission. "Your business is of too important a nature for you to
assume any needless risks outside of it," he said.

So Ridge could only watch enviously the departure of the boat with its
crew of armed men. It had not been gone two minutes when a bright
flame shot from the steamer's deck.

"They have set her on fire and abandoned her!" exclaimed the Captain.
"I pray to God, Comly may be cautious. Quartermaster, show the recall."

The words were hardly spoken when there came a great blinding flash, an
awful roar, and the _Speedy_ listed to her beam ends. A vast pillar of
flame leaped a hundred feet into the air, a huge foam-crested wave
rolled out to sea, and then all space seemed full of flying fragments.
The wreck had been destroyed by an explosion of her own cargo.

"Lower away the yawl! Quick, men! There may be some left to pick up.
Yes, Mr. Norris, you may go now."

They rescued Comly, bleeding from a wound in the head, and three of his