ht and in such circumstances. Two
sailors stood outside the ship's bulwarks, fastened there by ropes,
ready to lower the women. At one moment the raging sea rose with a roar
almost to the feet of these men, bearing the kicking lifeboat on its
crest. Next moment the billow had passed, and the men looked down into
a yawning abyss of foam, with the boat surging away far out of their
reach, plunging and tugging at the ropes which held it, as a wild horse
of the plains might struggle with the lasso. No wonder that the women
gazed appalled at the prospect of such a leap, or that some shrieked and
wildly resisted the kind violence of their rescuers. But the leap was
for life; it had to be taken--and quickly, too, for the storm was very
fierce, and there were many to save!

One of the women is held firmly by the two men. With wildly-staring
eyes she sees the boat sweep towards her on the breast of a rushing sea.
It comes closer. Some of the men below stand up with outstretched
arms. The woman makes a half spring, but hesitates. The momentary
action proves almost fatal. In an instant the boat sinks into a gulf,
sweeps away as far as the ropes will let her, and is buried in foam,
while the woman is slipping from the grasp of the men who hold her.

"Don't let her go! don't let her go!" is roared by the lifeboat-men, but
she has struggled out of their grasp. Another instant and she is gone;
but God in His mercy sends the boat in again at that instant; the men
catch her as she falls, and drag her inboard.

Thus, one by one, were the women got into the lifeboat. Some of these
women were old and infirm; some were invalids. Who can conceive the
horror of the situation to such as these, save those who went through
it?

The children were wrapped up in blankets and thus handed down. Some of
the husbands or fathers on board rolled up shawls and blankets and
tossed them down to the partially clothed and trembling women. It
chanced that one small infant was bundled up in a blanket by a frantic
passenger and handed over the side. The man who received it, mistaking
it for merely a blanket, cried, "Here, Bill, catch!" and tossed it into
the boat. Bill, with difficulty, caught it as it was flying overboard;
at the same moment a woman cried, "My child! my child!" sprang forward,
snatched the bundle from the horrified Bill, and hugged it to her bosom!

At last the boat, being sufficiently filled, was hauled up to her
anchor.