Menhardoc Part 62

"Oh! don't say he's drowned; don't say he's drowned."

There was quite a lull as he spoke; and as the old man felt the touch of the boy's clinging hands he laid his own upon his head with a strange far-off look in his eyes.

"I don't say so; I won't say so!" he cried in a hoa.r.s.e, pa.s.sionate way.

"My brave, true lad! but I oughtn't to have let him go."

"Hurrah!"

A loud cheer from near the water's edge, and a quick, bustling movement among the men; and then down came the storm again, as if it had been taking breath, and the roar was deafening.

But the boat had reached the ship, of course getting under her lee, and her daring little crew had climbed on board. For there was the proof-- the life-gear had been attached to the end of the line, and it was being rapidly dragged from the sh.o.r.e out towards the wreck.

A long, anxious time ensued, during which, while the sea end was being secured to the wreck, the sh.o.r.e end of the life-cable, was carried high up to the top of a cl.u.s.ter of rocks that formed the end of the reef, a flat place thirty feet above the level of the sea.

There were drags at that line, which the men at once knew were given by the waves, but they were mostly sharp twitches, which meant that the daring boatmen, headed by Josh, were making it fast high up somewhere in the vessel's mizen; and at last there was an unmistakable signal which meant, "Make fast," and the sh.o.r.e end was hauled tight round a ma.s.s of rock.

Then as d.i.c.k and his brother stood in the crowd, which had climbed up to the top of the rock, they saw the block that ran upon the cable set in motion by a thin line that was alongside the thick rope, and there was a burst of cheers as the cradle--that basket-like contrivance of the rocket apparatus--started off, dragged by those upon the rock, to cross the seething waves, which kept leaping up at it as if to s.n.a.t.c.h it down.

Then came a signal--a twitch of the line, and with a cheer the men on the rock hauled the cradle back--cradle indeed, for it seem to contain a new-born life, saved from inevitable death.

It was the pale, wild face of a woman, speechless with dread and exposure, that greeted the men on the rocks as they hauled in the cradle; and in a minute she was lifted out, and almost before the willing hands had lifted the poor woman down from the rock, the cradle was speeding back.

It returned quickly with a man half dead, and he, amidst rousing cheers, was lifted out, and borne to a place where he would find warmth, welcome, and shelter.

Then four more were dragged ash.o.r.e over the thundering, roaring waves, as the cradle was merrily hauled to and fro.

Then came another man, but not a storm-beaten exhausted seaman. It was the well-known countenance of one of the crew that went out in the boat, and he was full of activity.

"Back with the cradle!" he shouted, "haul away. The ship won't hold together long."

The cradle began to run back over the swinging rope, while the man who had returned said in reply to questions:

"Those were all. The rest of the poor souls had been beaten off, and these couldn't have lasted many minutes longer. You must look alive."

The men waited anxiously for the signal, and then another mate was hauled over the waves, and the cradle sent back, while d.i.c.k stood trembling and wanting to ask why Will, who was a boy, had not been sent first.

Then came another, and still it was not Will.

"This time it must be he," thought d.i.c.k; but when the cradle arrived once more, it was the face of Josh that saluted them.

"Haul back quick," the latter said. "She was shivering under my feet when I come away."

"And you left that boy to drown!" roared Uncle Abram, catching Josh by the throat.

Josh did not resent it, but said quietly, in a lull of the storm:

"He wouldn't come first. It was like drowning both him and me to stand gashly arguing at a time like that."

And now every eye was staring wildly, and with an intensity that showed how eagerly all watched for the next freight of the cradle.

"It's hard work for the lad," said Josh hoa.r.s.ely; "and I'd give anything to be at his side. But he'll do it if the ship hangs together long enough. Oh, pull, pull! Haul away, lads, haul!"

"He made me come--he made me come," he cried frantically. "It was keeping the lad back to say I wouldn't go first. I didn't want to, lads, I didn't want to."

"No, no," came in a sympathetic growl, as once more the wind lulled a little and there were symptoms of the gale being nearly over.

Then there was a groan, for Will made no signal.

"Hooray!" came from the men, as there was a sudden s.n.a.t.c.h, and the rope they were giving out was drawn rapidly. "He's got it, he's--got--"

The man who was joyfully shouting that stopped short as the rope ceased moving, and one, who was trying to use a telescope, shouted:

"The mizen's over!"

"Then she's gone to pieces, lads," cried another.

"No," cried the man with the gla.s.s; "part's standing yet."

"Hooray!" came again, as d.i.c.k stood clinging to Uncle Abram's arm, the old man having left the stone, and standing close beside the men who hauled the cradle gear.

Short as the distance was, not a glimpse of the ship could be seen, for every wave that broke upon the rock rose in a fountain of spray, to mingle with the blinding drift and mist of foam. But all the time their eyes were strained towards the rock upon which the ship had struck, and along the reef that the venturesome boat's crew had made the shelter which resulted in the saving of some of the poor creatures upon the wreck.

All at once, when a horrible feeling of despair had settled upon all present, there was a sharp twitch given to the line, the signal for it to be hauled, just at a time too when Josh had turned away, giving d.i.c.k a piteous look, and then gone to lean his head upon his arm against the rock.

That cheer which came as the rope was twitched seemed to send life and activity back to Josh, who dashed in among the knot of men at the rope.

"Here, let me come," he shouted; "let me have a hand in bringing him ash.o.r.e. Hurray! Master d.i.c.k, hurray! he's saved, he's saved!"

Was he?

The men hauled as rapidly as was consistent with safety, till the cradle with its occupant was dragged right up on to the rock, where a dozen hands were ready to lift the drooping, insensible figure out, and pour brandy between its lips.

Will opened his eyes at this and stared wildly for a few moments; then a knowledge of his position seemed to come to him, and he smiled and raised one hand.

At that moment there was a shout and the cable of the cradle gear seemed to hang loose, and the sea end to be moving sh.o.r.eward, while the man with the gla.s.s shouted:

"She's gone to pieces, lads; that last wave lifted her, and then she melted right away."

There was no doubt about it, for the cradle gear was floating free, and the men were able to haul it in. The rest of the crew of that unfortunate ship, with twelve pa.s.sengers beside, were washed ash.o.r.e with the battered boat that took the line, and fragments of wreck here and there all round the coast for the next ten days or so, long after Will had well recovered from the shock of his adventure. For he had been for long enough beaten about and half drowned by the waves while striving to get the cradle rope clear of a tangle of rigging that had fallen upon it, and threatened to put an end to its further working, till he had run a most perilous risk, climbed over it, hauled the rope from the other side, and had just strength enough left to get into the cradle and give the signal, as a wave came over the doomed ship, and buried him deep beneath tons of water.

He could recollect no more than that he had tried to give the signal to be hauled ash.o.r.e, and some one had held him up to pour brandy between his teeth.

Yes: there was something else he remembered very well, and that was the way in which d.i.c.k held on to him, and how Arthur had shaken hands. He recalled that, and with it especially Mr Temple's manner, for there was a kind, fatherly way in his words and looks as he said to him gently:

"Will Marion, I should have felt very proud if one of my boys had done all this."

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.