rs in small, but strongly built, rowing-boats,
and some of these, after getting rid of their load, came to the _Lily_.
As the men sprang over the gunwale on to the deck, the skipper greeted
each with a hearty 'What cheer, sonny?'

Many of the fishermen were easily prevailed upon to go below and drink.
Some indulged in one glass, and then hurried off to their ships; but two
men remained in the saloon long after the others had departed. When they
had been there for half an hour their skipper blew his siren loudly, as
a command for them to return at once. Each came on deck quickly; but
they were intoxicated to an extent that surprised Charlie, considering
the short time they had been on the _Lily_.

'They will never get back to their ship,' Charlie declared to the
skipper of the coper.

'That is their look-out, not mine,' the skipper answered, and turned
away, evidently not caring what happened to them.

The _Lily_, in common with all the North Sea trawlers, had no ladder by
which men quitting the ship could descend into the small boat. The
departing man has to hang from the gunwale until the small boat is
lifted high on a wave, and then he drops quickly into it. A moment's
hesitation may result in his falling into the sea, sometimes with the
risk of being crushed between the ship and the small boat. Charlie had
good reason, therefore, for thinking that the two poor fellows might
meet with an accident, but the men themselves did not consider that
there was any danger.

'We shall be all right,' one of them answered noisily, when Charlie
advised them to be careful, and the man who spoke certainly dropped into
the small boat as easily as if he were sober. The other man, however,
hung to the gunwale longer than he should have done, and, consequently,
when he did release his hold he had a long way to drop. He landed with
both feet on one of the seats, and after struggling for a moment to
balance himself, fell backwards into the sea, but, fortunately, not
between the boat and the ship. His mate broke into a laugh, but made no
attempt to rescue him. Possibly he thought that the man could swim, but
it was clear to Charlie that he could not, and that unless he went to
his assistance he would be drowned. So he pulled off his coat and dived
into the sea. He came to the surface just beside the man, and, seizing
him, pushed him along until they reached the boat, into which the now
sober fisherman quickly scrambled. In the meanwhil