Allen soon appeared with an extincteur on his back, and the mate with the hose.  Then the cupboard in Mr. Bingham’s room was opened, and burning cloaks, dresses, boxes of curios, portmanteaus, &c., were hauled out, and, by a chain of men, sent on deck, where they were drenched with sea-water or thrown overboard.  Moving these things caused the flames to increase in vigour, and the extincteur was used freely, and with the greatest success.  It is an invaluable invention, especially for a yacht, where there are so many holes and corners which it would be impossible to reach by ordinary means.  All this time the smoke was pouring in volumes from the cupboard on the other side, and from under the nursery fireplace.  The floors were pulled up, and the partitions were pulled down, until at last the flames were got under.  The holds were next examined.  No damage had been done there; but the cabin floor was completely burnt through, and the lead from the nursery fireplace was running about, melted by the heat.

The explanation of the cause of the fire is very simple.  Being a bitterly cold night, a roaring fire had been made up in the nursery, but about half-past ten the servants thought it looked rather dangerous and raked it out.  The ashpan was not large enough, however, to hold the hot embers, which soon made the tiles red-hot.  The woodwork caught fire, and had been smouldering for hours, when the nurse fortunately woke and discovered the state of affairs.  She tried to rouse the other maids, but they were stupefied with the smoke, and so she rushed off at once to the doctor and Mr. Bingham.  The former seized a child under each arm, wrapped them in blankets, and carried them off to the deck-house, Mabelle and the maids following, with more blankets and rugs, hastily snatched up.  The children were as good as possible.  They never cried nor made the least fuss, but composed themselves in the deck-house to sleep for the remainder of the night, as if it were all a matter of course.  When I went to see them, little Muriel remarked:  ’If the yacht is on fire, mamma, had not baby and I better get our ulsters, and go with Emma in the boat to the hotel, to be out of the way?’ It is the third time in their short lives that they have been picked out of bed in the middle of the night and carried off in blankets away from a fire, so I suppose they are getting quite used to it.

There can be no doubt that the preservation of the yacht from very serious damage, if not from complete destruction, was due to the prompt and efficient manner in which the extincteurs were used.  It was not our first experience of the value of this invention; for, not very long before we undertook our present expedition, a fire broke out in our house in London, on which occasion the extincteurs we fortunately had at hand rendered most excellent service in subduing the flames.

By half-past three all danger was past, and we began to settle down again, though it took a long time to get rid of the smoke.