hand, and caught fast to the power craft witH a boathook.
"You can pull us as well as not," said Tom.
"Right you are," answered Stanley. "And the quicker both boats get to that steamer the better."
As they drew closer to the Thistle they saw a volume of smoke roll up from the engine room. A barrel of oil had taken fire and the crew had found it impossible to subdue the conflagration. As yet the fire was only a small one, but there was no telling how soon it would spread, and the seminary girls on board were panic-stricken, more especially as the teacher who chanced to be with them was herself an extremely nervous person.
"Oh, girls, what shall we do?" asked Grace Laning, after the first dreadful alarm was at an end.
"Perhaps we had better jump overboard," suggested Nellie Laning. "I don't want to be burned alive!" And her wide-open eyes showed her terror.
"Don't jump yet," said Dora Stanhope, as bravely as she could.
"Oh, girls, we'll be burned to death! I know it, I feel it!" wailed another seminary student.
"We are near Brill College," said another.
