The Missing Ship | Page 7

very glad Norah wasn't on deck, for she would have felt
as I did, and been terribly alarmed."
"Hush, Gerald, hush! you think more of the affair than it deserves," said
Owen; "had I run any risk of losing my life, your father might have
blamed me, as the safety of the ship while he is ill is committed to my
charge; but remember that I took the precaution of having a rope round
my waist, so that I couldn't come to any harm, and what I did any man
with strength and nerve could have done likewise--so, Gerald, don't
make a fuss about the matter. I saved the man's life, there's no doubt
about that, and he, therefore, is the only person who need thank me."
Notwithstanding what the mate had said, Gerald hurried into the cabin
and gave a report of what had occurred, not failing to express his own
opinion of the gallantry of the act. Norah, who had listened with
breathless interest while he spoke, uttered an ejaculation of
thankfulness, forgetting to make any inquiry about the man who had
been saved. Captain Tracy, however, expressed himself much as Owen
expected he would.
"It was a rash though brave deed," he observed, "but I'll not blame
him--he had no time, evidently, to think of the risk he was running, but
acted as his gallantry prompted him. He did not get any hurt, I hope?"
"No, father, beyond a thorough wetting--it was all done in a

moment--he was on board again almost before I could have looked
round, walking the deck as if nothing had happened," answered Gerald.
"I am thankful for that," said the captain; "and where have they stowed
the man he saved? Poor fellow! it would have been hard lines with him,
in such a sea as is still running, if he had not been picked up."
"The mate put him into his own cabin," said Gerald; "the cook has been
heating some soup for him, as he seemed very weak and pretty nigh
exhausted."
"Owen might have let him go forward with the men; they would have
looked after him carefully enough," observed Captain Tracy. "There
was no necessity for Owen to give up his own cabin--but he is always
generous and ready to sacrifice his own comforts for others."
"But the stranger from his way of speaking and dress seems to be an
officer, and he would think himself badly treated if he had been sent
forward," said Gerald.
"I must hear more about him from Owen," said the captain; "ask him to
come here as soon as he can leave the deck and has got on dry clothes.
How's the weather now, Gerald?"
"It is moderating rapidly, father, and the mate thinks we shall have
smooth water and a light breeze before night," was the answer.
When Gerald returned on deck he found the mate giving orders to loose
the topsails. As soon as this was done, the wind still decreasing, the
foresail and mainsail were set, and before long the ship was bounding
proudly over the seas with as much canvas as could be carried. At
length, leaving the deck in charge of the boatswain, Owen repaired to
the cabin and answered many questions put to him by the captain. He
might well have been satisfied with the approbation he received from
Norah, if not from her lips, from those bright blue eyes of hers--even
the captain forgot to scold him as he had intended for his rashness.
"We shall hear more about the man to-morrow, when he has

recovered," he observed; "he'll need a long rest, for he must have pretty
well given up all hope of his life when you saved him, till the ship hove
in sight-- and even then he could scarcely expect to be picked up with
the sea there was running at the time. Well, I trust that he'll be
grateful."
The captain then made inquiries about the sick men, of whom Owen
was able to give a favourable report.
"Thank God for that!" said the captain. "I feel myself quite another man
to what I have been for many a day, and I hope to-morrow to be on
deck again. If this stranger proves to be a seaman he may give you
some relief by doing duty on board; you've had a trying time of it,
Owen, and it is a mercy you've not knocked up."
Owen now bade the captain and mistress Norah good night, and went
on deck, when he desired the boatswain--the only person besides
himself to whom the charge of the ship could be confided--to turn in,
that he might relieve him in the next watch, should the weather
continue to improve as he hoped it would do. He was not