ptain gave a dry cough, and I turned round sharply, expecting to
hear some angry exclamation.

"No," cried Mr Reardon, "he is not clinging to the life-buoy. I
wouldn't for anything that it should have happened. Poor fellow! Poor
fellow!"

"Ay, poor fellow!" muttered Captain Thwaites. "Any use to lower another
boat, Reardon?"

"No, sir, no," cried the lieutenant, "or I would have had one down.
Ahoy there!" he roared. "Light another blue!"

"Ay, ay, sir!" came from far away, for the tide ran hissing by our sides
in full rush for the sea, and the third blue-light which blazed out
looked smaller and smaller, while those of the first boat and the
life-buoy began to show faint, and then all at once that on the buoy
seemed to go out.

"That blue-light ought to have burned longer on the buoy," cried Mr
Reardon.

"They've picked up the buoy and laid it across the bows of the boat,"
said Mr Brooke, who was watching through his night-glass, and at that
moment the light blazed out again like a star.

And still the halos shed by the lights grew fainter and fainter. Then
one light burned out, and the lieutenant stamped with anger, but there
was no cause for his irritation. Another flashed out directly.

The boats were too far away now for us to see much of what was going on,
the heads of the men growing blurred, but we saw that they were
zig-zagging across the tide, and we listened in vain for the hail and
the cheer that should accompany the words--

"Got him, sir!"

The buzz of conversation among the men, who clustered on deck, in the
shrouds and tops, grew fainter, and I was thinking whether I was very
much to blame, and if I could in any way have saved the poor fellow.
Then I began thinking of the men in the forecastle, and their punishment
for being the cause, in their boyish way of playing tricks, of the poor
Chinaman's death.

I wouldn't be Tom Jecks for all the world, I muttered, and then I turned
cold and shuddered, as the hope, faint though it was, of Ching being
picked up went out like one of the lights that now disappeared; for
Captain Thwaites said sadly--

"I'm afraid we must recall the boats, Mr Reardon."

"Yes, sir," said the lieutenant in a husky voice. "I don't think any
one is to blame about the attempt to save the poor fellow, sir. The
life-buoy was let go, and the boat lowered promptly; the dishipline of
the men was good."

"Excellent, Mr Reardon. I have nothing to say there. It would