Darry the Life Saver | Page 4

her, and she must soon go to pieces.
Darry tried to call out, but his mouth filled with salty water, and in
despair he saw the boat pass him by.
Even the lightning failed to illumine the scene just then, or some eager
eye might have detected the floating spar and its human burden.
No hope remained save that he might be tossed up on the beach
somewhere near the friendly fire that was burning as a beacon.
Once he fancied he heard men shouting during a lull in the roar of the
elements; but the coming of another smothering billow shut out the
friendly sounds.
Closer he was flung, until he could again hear the shouts of men, but
the baffling seas kept playing with him, sending him up on the breaking
wave only to once more snatch him back, until the poor boy almost
despaired of living through the dreadful ordeal.
He tried his best to raise his voice, but the cry he gave utterance to was
so feeble that even if heard it must have been taken for the note of some
storm bird attracted by the light of the beacon fire.
Just when he was giving way to despair, he saw the figures of men
running along the beach close to the edge of the waves, and new hope
awoke in his breast that his predicament had been seen.
Now they were pushing into the sea, holding one another's hands, and
forming a living chain, with a sturdy fellow at the end to snatch the
victim of the wreck out of the jaws of death.

The precious sight was at that instant shut out, for again there came a
deluge of water from behind, overwhelming the boy on the floating
spar.
Darry felt something take hold upon him, which, in his excited
condition, he at first believed to be a shark; but, on the contrary, it
proved to be the fingers of the man at the outer end of the line.
Once they closed upon the person of the shipwrecked cabin boy they
could not be easily induced to let go, and amid shouts of triumph, spar
and lad were speedily dragged up on the beach beyond reach of the
hungry waves.
He was dimly conscious of being released from his friendly float, and
tenderly carried a short distance to the shelter of a house.
It was the life-saving station to which the boy had been taken by his
rescuers.
[ILLUSTRATION: HE WAS DIMLY CONSCIOUS OF BEING
RELEASED FROM HIS FRIENDLY FLOAT.]
Here he was wrapped in blankets, and placed close to a warm fire in
order to restore his benumbed faculties; while some hot liquid being
forced between his pallid lips served to give new strength to his body.
In less than ten minutes he opened his eyes and looked around.
Kind faces, even though rough and bearded, surrounded him, and he
knew that for once he had cheated the sea of a victim.
As strength came back he began to take an interest in what was passing
around him, especially when he saw several men carried in, whom he
recognized as some of the sailors of the ill-fated brigantine.
Eagerly he watched and prayed that his good friend the captain might
be one of those who had been snatched from a watery grave; but as
time passed this hope gradually became fainter.

The lifeboat had managed to return from the wreck, to report that not a
living soul remained aboard; and that the seas were so tremendous that
even had it been otherwise there would have been small chance of
saving them, since it was next to impossible to approach close to the
vessel.
How the boy, lying there, looked with almost reverence upon those
stalwart fellows who were risking their lives in the effort to save their
fellow men.
Darry would never forget that hour.
The impressions he received then would remain with him through life;
and in his eyes the calling of a life saver must always be reckoned the
noblest vocation to which a young man could pledge himself.
He thought he would like nothing better than to become one of the
band, and in some way repay the great debt he owed them by doing as
he had been done by.
Presently he had so far recovered that he could get up and move
around.
All of the sailors had not been equally fortunate; indeed, two of them
would never again scour the seas, having taken out papers for that long
voyage the end of which no mortal eye can see.
As each new arrival was carried in the boy would be the first to hasten
forward, but as often his sigh echoed the heavy feeling in his heart as
he discovered