The Pirate Island | Page 6

crew could effect a communication
with them.
"Let's have one more try, boys," exhorted old Bill; "and if we misses
her this time we shall have to shift our ground and trust to our own
anchor and chain to hold us until we can get 'em off."
Risky work that would be, as each man there told himself; but none
thought of expressing such a sentiment aloud, preferring to take the risk
rather than abandon those poor souls to their fate.
The line and keg were rapidly hauled on board the smack once more,
and Bill was standing aft by the taffrail watching for a favourable

moment at which to make another cast, when Bob exclaimed
excitedly--
"'Vast heavin', father; 'taint no use tryin' that dodge any more--we're too
far to leeward. Cast off the line and take a turn with it round my waist;
I'm goin' to try to swim it. I know I can do it, dad; and it's the only way
as we can do any good."
The old man stared aghast at the lad for a moment, then he glanced at
the mad swirl of broken water astern, then back once more to Bob, who,
in the meantime, was rapidly divesting himself of his clothing.
"God bless ye, boy, for the thought," he at length ejaculated; "God
bless ye, but it ain't possible. Even if the water was warm the breaking
seas 'd smother ye; but bitter cold as 'tis you wouldn't swim a dozen
yards. No, no, Bob, my lad, put on your duds again; we must try sum'at
else."
But Bob had by this time disencumbered himself of everything save a
woollen under-shirt and drawers; and now, instead of doing his adopted
father's bidding, he rapidly cast off the line from the keg, and, making a
bowline in the end, passed it over one shoulder and underneath the
other arm. The next instant he had poised himself lightly upon the
taffrail of the wildly tossing smack, and, a mighty breaker sweeping by,
with comparatively smooth water behind it, without a moment's
hesitation thence plunged head-foremost into the icy sea.
The broken water leaped and tossed wildly, as if in exultation, over the
spot where the brave lad had disappeared; while all hands--both those
on board the smack and the people on the wreck--waited breathlessly
for his reappearance on the surface. An endless time it seemed to all;
and but for the rapid passage of the thin light line out over the smack's
taffrail, indicating that Bob was swimming swiftly under water, old Bill
Maskell would have dreaded some dreadful mishap to his protege; but
at last a small round dark object appeared in bold relief in the midst of
a sheet of foam, which gleamed dazzling white in the clear cold light of
the moon.

It was Bob's head.
"There he is!" was the exultant exclamation of every one of the smack's
crew, and then they sent forth upon the wings of the gale a ringing
cheer, in which those upon the wreck faintly joined.
"Now, boys," exclaimed old Bill, "clear away this here line behind me,
some of yer; and look out another nice light handy one to bend on to it
in case we wants it."
The old man himself stood on the taffrail, paying out the line and
attentively watching every heave of the plunging smack, so that Bob
might not be checked in the smallest degree in his perilous passage, nor,
on the other hand, be hampered by having a superabundance of line
paid out behind him for the tide to act upon and drag hint away to
leeward.
The distance from the smack to the wreck was but short, a mere
hundred feet or so, but with the heavy surf to contend against and the
line sagging and swaying in the sea behind him, it taxed Bob's energies
to their utmost limit to make any progress at all. Indeed, it appeared to
him that, instead of progressing, he was, like the keg, drifting
helplessly to leeward with the tide. The cold water, too, chilled him to
the very marrow and seemed to completely paralyse his energies, while
the relentless surf foamed over his head almost without intermission, so
that he had the utmost difficulty in getting his breath. Nevertheless he
fought gallantly on until, after what seemed to be an eternity of
frightful exertion, he reached the side of the wreck, and grasped the
rope which its occupants flung to him. He was too completely
exhausted, however, to mount the side at that moment; and while he
clung to the rope, regaining his breath and his strength, a mighty roller
came sweeping down upon the sands, burying the smack for the
moment as it rushed passed her, and then surging forward