George were
standing. The foremost boat had come alongside, and the seamen were
throwing the mail bags into it. When the mails were all safely stowed in
the boat, some of the passengers that stood near by were called upon to
follow. Mr. George and Rollo, being near, were among those thus called
upon.

"Wait a moment," said Mr. George to Rollo, in a low tone. "Let a few of
the others go first, that we may see how they manage it."

It proved to be rather difficult to manage it; for both the steamer and
the boat were rocking and tossing violently on the waves, and as their
respective motions did not at all correspond, they thumped against each
other continually, as the boat rose and fell up and down the side of
the steamer in a fearful manner. It was dark too, and the wind was
blowing fresh, which added to the frightfulness of the scene.

A crowd of people stood about the gangway. Some of these people were
passengers waiting to go down, and others, officers of the ship, to help
them. The seamen in the boat below were all on the alert too, some
employed in keeping the boat off from the side of the ship, in order to
prevent her being stove or swamped, while others stood on each side of
the place where the passengers were to descend, with uplifted arms,
ready to seize and hold them when they came down.

There was a little flight of steps hanging down the side of the steamer,
with ropes on each side of it in lieu of a balustrade. The passenger who
was to embark was directed to turn round and begin to go down these
steps backward, and then, when the sea lifted the boat so that the
seamen on board could seize hold of him, they all cried out
vociferously, "LET GO!" and at the same moment a strong sailor grasped
him around the waist, brought him down into the bottom of the boat in a
very safe, though extremely unceremonious manner.

After several gentlemen and one lady had thus been put into the boat,
amid a great deal of calling and shouting, and many exclamations of
surprise and terror, the officer at the gangway turned to Mr. George,
saying,--

"Come, sir!"

There was no time to stop to talk; so Mr. George stepped forward, saying
to Rollo as he went, "Come right on directly after me;" and in a moment
more he was seized by the man, and whirled down into the boat, he
scarcely knew how. Immediately after he was in, there came some
unusually heavy seas, and the steamer and the boat thumped together so
violently that all th