In the Eastern Seas | Page 3

board her
without risk. As the ship gradually receded from the wreck, the young
boy was seen to lift up his hands imploringly, as if to beg for assistance.
At length the boatswain came aft and addressed the captain.
"If you will let me have the life-boat, sir, there are six hands ready to
go in her; and I will undertake to board that craft, and bring off any
people we may find alive. To my mind, from the way she rolls, she has
not got many hours longer to swim; and if she was to go down, those
young people we saw would have to go down in her, and that's what
my eyes would not like to watch."

"No indeed, Tarbox," said the captain. "Mr Thudicumb, what do you
say?"
"I was going to volunteer, sir," said the first officer; "but though I yield
to no other man on board in the management of a boat, I acknowledge
that Tarbox can handle one in a sea better than any man I have ever met
with; and on that account, and not because I am afraid of risking my
life, I yield to him."
"Thank you, Mr Thudicumb," said the boatswain. "I should have said
the same thing of you, sir; but you have a wife and children at home,
and it matters little what becomes of old Dick Tarbox."
Once more the ship was brought up as close as she could be to the
wreck, and again being hove to, the life-boat, with the six hands
selected by the boatswain, was carefully lowered. And now everybody
on board watched her with anxious eyes, as she pulled towards the
wreck. The young lad saw her coming, and was observed to be bending
down as if to announce the event to some one below. Again the little
girl's head appeared above the deck, but the lad would not allow her to
come up further, evidently being afraid of her being jerked
overboard--an event but too likely to occur, from the way the ship was
rolling. On pulled the boat, now sinking down deep into the trough of
the sea, which curled into mountain billows, and seemed about to
overwhelm her; now she rose up high on the crest of a wave. Many of
those who gazed at her held their breath, scarcely believing that she
could possibly live amid the tumult of waters. Slowly she proceeded,
guided by the well-practised hand of the old boatswain. She was close
to the wreck. Now she seemed to sink far down below the deck, now to
rise up, as if the next instant she would be thrown upon it. Could any
human being ever manage to gain the wreck from that tossing boat?
Yes, yes! a man stands up in the boat. He makes a spring! He has
gained the deck, hauling himself up by a rope which he has clutched.
He waves off the boat till he is ready to return to her.
Dick Tarbox was the man. He was seen to leap down the hatchway. For
some time he did not appear. What could have become of him? "There
he is! there he is!" shouted several voices. He came, bearing a young

girl in his arms. The boat again drew near the dismasted ship. Those
who looked on held their breath, for how could he manage to convey
his burden to the tossing boat? He stood for a minute or more waiting,
but not irresolute. His eye was watching the boat. He was calculating
the rolling of the ship. He made a signal to one of the men to be ready
to receive the girl. Then, quick as lightning, he leaped across the deck,
and dropped her--so it seemed--into the man's arms. The boat again
kept away from the ship, and the boatswain disappeared once more
down the hatchway.
"He will bring the boy this time!" But no; he came up carrying a far
heavier burden--a man wrapped in a cloak, and apparently unable to
help himself. Dick shouted to one of the crew to go aboard and help
him. Together they got the sick man into the boat. The little girl clasped
her hands in her anxiety as she saw him lowered down. Sorrowfully she
stooped over him, supporting his head in her arms; forgetting,
apparently, where she was, and the fearful danger to which she was still
exposed. The boy had followed the boatswain, apparently with the
intention of leaping into the boat by himself. Dick was seen to hold him
back: then he lifted him in his arms, and, waiting for the right moment,
sprang into the boat.
No one on board had watched these proceedings with more apparent
eagerness than Merlin; and as the boat came alongside the ship,