Johns, and she wasn't
wrecked on any part of the coast, but was lost at sea."
"_Jiminetty_! The 'Lavinia'! It don't seem possible. How did it
happen? There hasn't been any gale. Did she blow up, or what?"
"I don't know," replied Cabot, "for I was down-stairs when it took
place, and my stateroom door was jammed so that I couldn't get out for
a long time. I only know that there was the most awful crash I ever
heard, and it seemed as though the ship were being torn to pieces.
Then there came an explosion, and when I got on deck the ship was
sinking so fast that I had only time to cut loose the raft before she
went down."
"What became of the others?" asked White excitedly.
"I am afraid they were drowned, for I heard them shouting just before
she sank, but there was such a cloud of steam, smoke, and fog that I
couldn't see a thing, and after it was all over I seemed to be the only
one left."
"Wasn't there a rock or ship or anything she might have run into?"
asked the young skipper, whose tanned face had grown pale as he
listened to this tale of sudden disaster.
"There was an iceberg," replied Cabot, "but when I went down-stairs it
wasn't very close, and the sun was shining, so that it was in plain
sight."
"That must be what she struck, though," declared the other. Then he
thrust his head up the companionway and shouted: "Hear the news, Dave.
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