closed on the top, and
open only on the front.

"My father!" gasped Mollie. "Save him, Noddy!"

"I will try," replied Noddy. "Hold on tight," added he, as a heavy
volume of water rolled down the companion-way.

"Save him, and don't mind me," groaned the poor girl, unselfish to the
last.

The brave boy stepped down to the cabin floor, where the water was up to
his hips. Creeping on the top of the lockers, and holding on to the
front of the berths, he reached the door of the captain's state-room. In
this part of the vessel the water had risen nearly to the top of the
door, and the berth in which the unfortunate inebriate lay was entirely
beneath its surface. He crawled into the room, and put his hand into the
berth. The captain was not there.

The water was still rising, and Noddy had no doubt that the poor man had
already perished. The shock of the collision when the schooner struck,
or the rising waters, had forced him from his position on the bed. The
water was over Noddy's head in the state-room; but the agony of Mollie
induced him to make a desperate effort to save her father. He dropped
down on the floor, and felt about with his feet, till he found the body.
The question was settled. Captain McClintock was dead. He was one of the
first victims of his criminal neglect.

It was not safe to remain longer in the state-room, even if there had
been any motive for doing so, and Noddy worked his way forward again as
he had come. He found Mollie still clinging to the ladder, suffering
everything on account of her father, and nothing for herself.

"My poor father!" said she, when she discovered her friend coming back
without him. "Where is he, Noddy?"

"I couldn't do anything for him, Mollie," replied he.

"Is he lost?"

"He is gone, Mollie; and it was all over with him before I got there.
Don't cry. He is out of trouble now."

"Poor father," sobbed she. "Couldn't you save him? Let me go and help
you."

"No use, Mollie," added Noddy, as he climbed up the ladder, and looked
out through the aperture at the hatch.

"Are you sure we can't do anything for him?" she asked, in trembling
tones.

"Nothing, Mollie. He was dead when I opened the door of his room. I
found him on the floor, and had to go down over my head to find him. He
did not move or struggle, and I'm sure he is dead. I am sorry, but I
can't help it."

"O, dear, dear!" groaned she, in her anguish.

She heeded not the cracking timbers and the roari