eyes from the wreck to the _Sovereign_, just as her bow went up on
a wave, showing the red underbody. And it reminded him of the yawning
mouth of some sea monster hungry for prey.

"We're lying here like bloodsuckers!" he yelled. "Waiting for salvage
while good men are dying! Dying--and we're doing nothing! Fellows,"
he roared, "I'm going to take the tug in to her. I'm not afraid of a
risk to save the lives of brave men."

"All right, Cap'n," said Mulhatton, "you know we'll go with you. But
there's no use in bein' fools. Take the tug in--yes. But how'll you
take her out again?"

Dan glared across the heaving waters with bloodshot eyes. "No use; you
couldn't, couldn't get her out again. No, you couldn't." He repeated
this several times. "Is there anything that could?" he added finally.

He looked at his men for the answer, but their eyes were still fastened
on the wreck with almost hypnotic fascination.

"Her deck-load's beginning to shift. It'll be clear off soon and
that'll take the other mast," announced Noonan.

One of the men in the rigging, a giant, tow-headed fellow, suddenly
went crazy,--at least so it seemed. For his lips writhed in a haunting
scream as he whipped out his knife and cut his lashings. Then he
turned a bloodless face toward the _Fledgling_, uttered a short,
rasping shout, and jumped into the sea. A great wave seized him
greedily and swirled him high. Dan caught a fleeting glimpse of that
face, turned reproachfully, it seemed, toward him.

It set him crazy too. His mind was working like lightning.

"Mul," he screamed, "launch the lifeboat, with you fellows holding on
to a line from her bow! We're to windward, and she'll drift right down
to the wreck. Then you can haul us back again. It's been done before.
God, why didn't I think of it sooner!"

Mulhatton looked at his Captain closely.

"One chance in a thousand that our boat would live to make the trip,
Cap'n," he said.

Dan snarled his impatience.

"One chance in ten thousand, one chance in a million, I'll take it!" he
cried in a sharp, metallic voice. "I never saw a man die until
to-day--I'll see no more, God willing."

Without a word Mulhatton turned and rushed for the lifeboat.

"Remember, I go in that boat," yelled Dan as he followed his mate. But
Mulhatton only turned back a defiant look. Together they wrenched the
boat from its blocks and lowered it to Noonan, standing below on the
main deck astern. C