hope
for; to miss it meant death; for even should he be seen or heard as he
passed astern, no power on earth could bring that tug back to windward
in such a sea.

When but twenty feet away from him the bow lifted, dripping water from
the hawse-pipes--and to the agonized man beneath it this bow and
dripping hawse-pipes bore a harrowing resemblance to a large,
implacable, yet weeping face, a face that expressed sorrow and
condemnation--then it fell upon him, and the heavy iron chain struck his
head, then glanced to his shoulder and bore him under. But the downward
blow gave him his grip upon it; had it struck him while lifting, he
might not have held.

Clinging for dear life, unable to move himself an inch against the rush
of water, with head swimming from the impact of the chain, and lungs
bursting from lack of air, he waited for the rise, and when it came,
moved upward a foot. Then he was borne under again, this time with his
lungs full of air, and he suffered less; and when he was lifted out, he
gained another foot.

Four times he was plunged under before he had climbed high enough to
avoid it, and then he rested, until his head cleared and the awful pain
of fatigue left his arms. When strength came back he mounted to the
bowsprit, crept in to the topgallant forecastle, and sprang down on the
main-deck, to the consternation of two men at the weather fore-rigging.
These were foremast hands, and Scotty had no present use for them. He
ran past them in his stocking-feet--and they gave room to the wild-eyed
apparition--and aft to the poop, where, besides the helmsman, was a man
who might be captain or mate, but who could certainly inform him.

"Is Cappen Bolt in charge o' the _Anita_ the neo?" he asked, hoarsely,
as he halted before him.

"Yes. Who are you?" asked the astounded man.

"God be thankit!" exclaimed Scotty, and he mounted the taffrail--not for
a swim this time, there was no need of it. Stretching back to the
_Anita_ was a steel trolley, which was all he wanted. Before the man
could do more than yell at him, Scotty had hitched himself out on the
towline beyond reach; then, for faster progress, he swung beneath it,
head aft and downward, and in this position, hand over hand and leg over
leg, he made his way along until the water took him. Filling his lungs
with air and locking arms and legs around the rope, he let himself go;
and he slid at the speed of the tug down the trolley and up again,
traversing ha