he ship was just opposite to us, this
man shouted something which I did not hear, and threw the
life-preserver. It fell close to the raft. I thought, indeed, it was
coming right into the midst of us. The red-faced man with the gold
ear-rings was nearest to it. He made a grab at it, and missed it. On
went the ship, and on went the life-preserver, skipping and dancing over
the waves. They let out lots of line, but still the life-preserver was
towed away.

A regular howl went up from our raft. I thought some of the men would
jump into the sea and swim after the ship, which was now rapidly leaving
us. We heard a shout from the vessel, but what it meant I did not know.
On she went, and on, as if she was never coming back.

"She'll come back," said the captain. "She'll tack again."

But it was hard to believe him. I don't know whether he believed
himself. Corny was wildly crying now, and Rectus was as white as a
sheet. No one seemed to have any hope or self-control except the
captain. Some of the men looked as if they did not care whether the ship
ever came back or not.

"The sea is too high," said one of them. "She'd swamp a boat, if she'd
put it out."

"Just you wait!" said the captain.

The bark sailed away so far that I shut my eyes. I could not look after
her any more. Then, as we rose on the top of a wave, I heard a rumble of
words among the men, and I looked out, and saw she was tacking. Before
long, she was sailing straight back to us, and the most dreadful moments
of my life were ended. I had really not believed that she would ever
return to us.

Again she came plowing along before us, the same group on her bow; again
the life-preserver was thrown, and this time the captain seized it.

In a moment the line was made fast to the raft. But there was no sudden
tug. The men on the bark knew better than that. They let out some two or
three hundred feet of line and lay to, with their sails fluttering in
the wind.

Then they began to haul us in. I don't remember much more of what
happened just about this time. It was all a daze of high black hull and
tossing waves, and men overhead, and ropes coming down, and seeing Corny
hauled up into the air. After a while, I was hauled up, and Rectus went
before me. I was told afterward that some of the stoutest men could
scarcely help themselves, they were so cramped and stiff, and had to be
hoisted on board like sheep.

I know that when I put my feet on the deck, my knees