but as the tide fell this action decreased, and had ceased
entirely when the lifeboat arrived.

And now the point of greatest danger was reached. How to bring a
lifeboat alongside of a wreck so as to get the people into her without
being dashed to pieces is a difficult problem to solve. It was no new
problem, however, to these hardy and fearless men; they had solved it
many a time, before that night. When more than a hundred yards to
windward of the wreck, the boat's foresail was lowered and her anchor
let go. Then they seized the oars, and the cable was payed out; but the
distance had been miscalculated. They were twenty yards or so short of
the wreck when the cable had run completely out, so the men had to pull
slowly and laboriously back to their anchor again, while the emigrants
sent up a cry of despair, supposing they had failed and were going to
forsake them! At length the anchor was got up. In a few minutes it was
let go in a better position, and the boat was carefully veered down
under the lee of the vessel, from both bow and stern of which a hawser
was thrown to it and made fast. By means of these ropes and the cable
the boat was kept somewhat in position without striking the wreck.

It was no easy matter to make the voice heard in such a gale and turmoil
of seas, but the captain of the Fusilier managed to give his ship's name
and intended destination. Then he shouted, "How many can you carry? We
have more than a hundred souls on board; more than sixty of them women
and children."

This might well fill the breasts of the rescuers with anxiety. Their
boat, when packed full, could only carry about thirty. However, a
cheering reply was returned, and, seizing a favourable opportunity, two
of the boatmen sprang on the wreck, clambered over the side, and leaped
among the excited emigrants. Some seized them by the hands and hailed
them as deliverers; others, half dead with terror, clung to them as if
afraid they might forsake them. There was no time, however, to humour
feelings. Shaking them all off--kindly but forcibly--the men went to
work with a will, briefly explained that there was a steamer not far
off, and began to get the women first into the boat.

Terror-stricken, half fainting, trembling in every limb, deadly pale,
and exhausted by prolonged anxiety and exposure, the poor creatures were
carried rather than led to the ship's side. It needed courage even to
submit to be saved on such a nig