"'Get ready to shove off!'

"Hardly had the words left his lips when there
came another dull, muffled roar, and a sheet of flame
licked the whole length of the deck. Then she fell
over on her beam.

"'My God!' I cried; 'left that dog to die!'

For a moment the first officer did not answer. Then
he raised his eyes to mine and said in a voice full of
emotion:

"Yes; there was nothin' else to do. It's against
orders to take animals into life-boats. They take
room and must be fed, and we hadn't a foot of space
or an ounce of grub and water to spare, and we had
two hundred miles to go. I begged the captain. 'I'll
give Bayard my place,' I said. I knew he was right;
but I couldn't help it. 'Let me go back and get
him.' I know now it would have been foolish; but
I'd have done it all the same. So would you, maybe,
if you'd known that dog and seen his trusting eyes
lookin' out of his scorched face and remembered what
he'd just done.

"The captain never looked at me when he answered.
He couldn't; his eyes were too full.

"'Your place is where you are, sir,' he said, short