By Sheer Pluck | Page 7

were thrown them,
and they speedily climbed on board.
"We thought you were the lifeboat at first," the captain said, as they
reached the deck; "but, of course, they cannot be here for a couple of
hours yet."
"We were blown off shore, sir," Frank said, "and have been rowing
against the wind for hours."
"Well, my lads," the captain said, "you have only prolonged your lives
for a few minutes, for she will not hold together long."
The ship, indeed, presented a pitiable appearance. The masts had
already gone, the bulwark to windward had been carried away, and the

hull lay heeled over at a sharp angle, her deck to leeward being level
with the water. The crew were huddled down near the lee bulwarks,
sheltered somewhat by the sharp slope of the deck from the force of the
wind. As each wave broke over the ship, tons of water rushed down
upon them. No more guns were fired, for the lashing had broken and
the gun run down to leeward. Already there were signs that the ship
would break up ere long, and no hope existed that rescue could arrive
in time.
Suddenly there was a great crash, and the vessel parted amidships.
"A few minutes will settle it now," the captain said. "God help us all."
At this moment there was a shout to leeward, which was answered by a
scream of joy from those on board the wreck, for there, close alongside,
lay the lifeboat, whose approach had been entirely unseen. In a few
minutes the fifteen men who remained of the twenty-two, who had
formed the crew of the wreck, and the four boys, were on board her. A
tiny sail was set and the boat's head laid towards Ramsgate.
"I am glad to see you, Master Hargate," the sailor who rowed one of the
stroke oars shouted. He was the man who had lent them the boat. "I was
up in the town looking after my wife, who is sick, and clean forgot you
till it was dark. Then I ran down and found the boat hadn't returned, so
I got the crew together and we came out to look for you, though we had
little hope of finding you. It was lucky for you we did, and for the rest
of them too, for so it chanced that we were but half a mile away when
the ship fired her first gun, just as we had given you up and determined
to go back; so on we came straight here. Another ten minutes and we
should have been too late. We are making for Ramsgate now. We could
never beat back to Deal in this wind. I don't know as I ever saw it blow
much harder."
These sentences were not spoken consecutively, but were shouted out
in the intervals between gusts of wind. It took them two hours to beat
back to Ramsgate, a signal having been made as soon as they left the
wreck to inform the lifeboat there and at Broadstairs that they need not
put out, as the rescue had been already effected. The lads were soon put
to bed at the sailors' home, a man being at once despatched on
horseback to Deal, to inform those there of the arrival of the lifeboat,
and of the rescue of the four boys who had been blown to sea.
Early next morning Frank and Handcock returned to Deal, the other

two lads being so exhausted by their fatigue and exposure that the
doctor said they had better remain in bed for another twenty-four hours.
It is impossible to describe the thankfulness and relief which Mrs.
Hargate experienced, when, about two in the morning, Dr. Parker
himself brought her news of the safety of her boy. She had long given
up all hope, for when the evening came on and Frank had not returned,
she had gone down to the shore. She learned from the fishermen there
that it was deemed impossible that the boys could reach shore in face of
the gale, and that although the lifeboat had just put out in search of
them, the chances of their being found were, as she herself saw, faint
indeed. She had passed the hours which had intervened, in prayer, and
was still kneeling by her bedside, where little Lucy was unconsciously
sleeping, when Dr. Parker's knock was heard at the door. Fervent,
indeed, was her gratitude to God for the almost miraculous preservation
of her son's life, and then, overcome by the emotions she had
experienced, she sought her couch, and was still asleep when, by the
earliest train in the morning, Frank returned.
For some time the four boys were the heroes of the school. A
subscription was got up to pay