Menhardoc | Page 6

there was a
confused foam on the surface, and Will was gone.
The moments that followed seemed prolonged to hours. There was an

indistinct movement visible in the disturbed water; the bubbles of air
seemed to be lashing up more fiercely as the life-line was drawn
rapidly through the hands that held it, and then, once more, Will's head
appeared, and he swam towards the ladder.
He could not speak, but made a sign with one hand.
"Haul!" cried Josh; "haul away!" as he reached out, caught Will's arm,
and drew him to the ladder; holding him up, for he was utterly
exhausted, and could hardly get his breath.
And there they stayed while the line was hauled up, and the diver once
more appeared above the surface; the poor fellow being hoisted on deck
and his helmet rapidly unfastened and removed.
The men looked helplessly from one to the other as they lifted their
eyes from the blackened countenance that one of the lighter's men was
supporting on his arm. No one seemed to know what would be best to
do, and a couple were ordered into the boat to row ashore for the
doctor.
"Why don't you take off them gashly things?" cried Josh, who had now
helped Will to the deck, where he stood holding on by a stay, trembling
in every limb.
Two men immediately began to take off the heavy india-rubber diving
suit, with its copper collar and heavy leaden-soled boots, with the result
that when the poor fellow was freed from these encumbrances and once
more laid upon the dock, the lifting and moving he had received proved
so far beneficial that he uttered a low sigh, and the purple tinge began
to die out from his face.
"He's a coming to!" said the skipper eagerly; and his words proved to
be right, for at the end of half an hour the poor fellow had recovered
consciousness, and was able to say that his life-line had become hitched
round a mass of rock, to which was attached some very long grown
strands of sea-weed, and these had been swept by the water right over
the line. Then when he had tried to free it his hands only came in

contact with the loose slimy wrack, and after a trial or two he had
become confused and excited.
"And you know I've allus told you as a diver should be as cool as a
cucumber," said his chief.
"Yes, I know all about that," said the diver huskily, "and so I meant to
be; but when you're shut-up in one o' them soots and are down in three
or four fathom o' water, and thinking your life-line's fast, you don't
seem as if you could be cool, mate."
"But you ought to be," said the chief severely; "and now, all along o'
your getting in a flurry, here's the newest helmet with a great dent in
the neck, so as it won't screw down on the collar, and I shall have to
pay damages out o' my wage."
"Better than having to pay to keep my wife and weans," said the diver
huskily; "and now I want to have a look at that young chap as dived
and set free the line."
"Here he be!" cried Josh eagerly, hauling at Will's arm; "here he be, lad.
Ain't much of a chap to have done it, be he?"
Josh laughed, and gave Will a thrust forward, much to the lad's
discomfort, for there was a low murmur of admiration from the little
group around.
"Oh, it's nothing to make such a fuss about!" said Will, whose cheeks
were burning now, as he stood there with the sea-water slowly soaking
from his clothes, and making a little puddle on the deck.
"No!" said the diver huskily; "it's nothing to make a fuss about; only
one man saving another man's life, when nobody else knew what to
do!"
"Oh, it was an accident!" said Will kindly; "and they hadn't time to
think."

"Yes," said the diver, looking softly up at Will; "an accident, my lad,
and nothing to make a fuss about; but there's some one at home as
would have made a fuss about it, and you've done more than save me,
my lad; you've saved a poor woman from a broken heart, and six bairns
from wanting charity; that's all. Let's shake hands!"
He held out his hand to Will in the midst of a strange silence, and held
that of the young man with a very strong grip, before sinking back with
his head upon a ship's fender, and closing his eyes.
"He arn't a bad sort of chap," said Josh softly, as Will drew back; "but I
don't hold with a fellow, even if he have just