e _City's_ bows
and come sliding along the hawser toward us. The French skipper saw it,
too; and tenderly taking the child from the arms of his almost swooning
wife, he carefully wrapped it in his jacket, which he removed for the
purpose, and then, with my assistance, securely lashed the bundle to his
body. The bosun's chair had by this time arrived at the barque's
taffrail, and was awaiting its first freight; so, as there was no time
to lose, I hustled the poor fellow away from his wife, assisted him into
the chair, saw that he had a good grip with both hands, and waved for
Murgatroyd to haul away, which he instantly did. I next turned to the
lady, and begged her to once more shelter herself temporarily in the
tarpaulin, my object being to spare her the sight of the terrible
passage of her husband and child over and through that narrow stretch of
ravening sea. But, as it happened, there was no need for my solicitude;
she cast one glance at the swaying, dangling figure of her husband, and
then, with a wild, wailing shriek, flung herself upon her knees, with
her hands clasped over her eyes.

And truly a terrible sight it was for a woman to contemplate, especially
with the knowledge that she would presently be obliged to herself
undertake the dreadful journey. The sea was running so high that, close
to each other as we were, when the crest of a wave interposed between us
and the _City of Cawnpore_ the latter was hidden half-way to the height
of her tops; and the headlong fury with which each wave came sweeping
down upon us, foam-capped, and with arching crest, was alone enough to
strike terror to the stoutest heart. That, however, was not the worst
of it; for although Murgatroyd might safely be trusted to exercise the
utmost judgment in the manipulation of the hauling-line, there were
moments when--the two craft being upon the opposite slopes of a huge
surge, with the hawser strained taut from one to the other--any luckless
individual who might be so unfortunate as to be caught half-way between
the two vessels would be momentarily buried some thirty feet deep in the
heart of the rushing hill of water, and about equally exposed to the two
dangers of suffocation or of being swept off beyond the reach of rescue,
and drowned out of hand. This double danger overtook the unfortunate
French skipper and his baby, but they got through all right, the child
escaping suffocation mainly in consequence of the careful and secure