Читать книгу Edith Percival. A Novel онлайн

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"Is this all?" asked Fred, as the last of those who had leaped from the deck were picked up.

"All, sir," was the universal answer.

"No, sir; it's not all!" said a boy—a mere lad of fourteen—springing from his seat. "There's a lady aboard yet; she is in the cabin, and we forgot her."

"Great Heaven!" exclaimed Fred, his dark face paling with horror—"have you left a woman on board that burning ship to perish?"

"We forgot her, sir," was the muttered response; while more than one eye fell beneath the scornful gaze of those fiery black eyes.

For one moment Fred thought of Captain Dale's command—"Look out for the magazine!"—and paused irresolute. Not for himself—oh, no! His determination was to rescue the lady or die, but for the men intrusted to his care. He felt that he had no right to peril the lives of many to save that of one; and for a moment he stood undecided what course to pursue. Then, as the terrible thought, that a fellow creature and a woman might even at that moment be perishing in the flames, sent the blood curdling to his brave heart, he looked up and said, in a clear and impressive voice, to his own men: