“Then let’s take it!” cried Russ.  “How will you summon the Bell?”

“By wireless.  I was only waiting for your decision to write out the message.  She has been expecting a call from us, but she has probably drifted farther off than she was last evening.  I will summon her.”

A little later the wireless began crackling out its call to the unseen Bell, and preparations were made to lower away the boats promptly, in case the fire should suddenly gain greater headway.  Then there was nothing to do but wait, and fight the flames.

“I insist, though, on being put in a boat!” cried Mr. Sneed.  “I want to get off this dangerous ship.”

“I do, too!” exclaimed Mr. Bunn.

“I advise you both to stick to this ship,” spoke Mr. Pertell, seriously.

“Never!” cried the grouch, and the former Shakespearean actor echoed the word.

“Let them go,” decided Captain Falcon, in a low voice to the moving picture manager.  “I can send them away in a boat, with some sailors, and tell my men to row slowly, so as not to take them too far away from us.  Then, when the Bell comes up, they can go aboard her, if our fire is not out by then.  Let them go.”

“All right,” agreed Mr. Pertell, and orders were given to lower a boat.  Mr. Bunn and Mr. Sneed got together what belongings they could, and entered it.

“I must get a moving picture of this!” cried Russ.

“Do!” said Mr. Pertell.

“I forbid it!” exclaimed Mr. Sneed.  Perhaps he did not want to be shown deserting the ship and the company.

But Russ brought out his camera, and soon the film was moving, as the boat was lowered to the surface of the sea.  Then it was soon pulling away from the Tarsus, and Russ got those views too.

“Wait!  Wait for me!” cried a voice, and up on deck came Mr. Towne.  He had a valise in each hand, which probably contained his best suits.  “Wait!” he cried.  “I want to be saved, too.”

“There’s no danger; you’ll be saved more by staying here than by going with them,” said Mr. Pertell.  “Besides, you might soil your clothing if you went in the small boat.  Another ship is coming for us.”

“Oh—­er—­I certainly would not like to spoil any of my suits—­the one I fell overboard in is almost ruined.  I—­er—­I ah—­shall stay!” and he went below again.

The wireless was still crackling out its call for aid, and soon an answer was received, saying that the Bell was on her way.

“She’s coming!” cried the operator, as he gave the dispatch to the captain.  Russ, who had enough of the pictures of Mr. Bunn and Mr. Sneed leaving in the boat, filmed the captain in the act of receiving this message of good cheer.  Later it was worked into a stirring drama, called “The Burning Ship.”

With all else that was going on, the work of fighting the blaze in the hold was not for a moment given up.  Water and live steam were turned in among the cargo, the pumping apparatus fortunately not having been disabled when the rest of the machinery went out of commission.