he would
probably not rise to the surface at all, but would slowly sink. As I
forced my way downward I looked about me, and presently saw a glimmering
white something far below which might be the object of my quest, for the
boy was dressed entirely in white. Desperately I urged myself downward,
the gloom increasing with every stroke; and at length, when I felt as
though my lungs would burst and I could not retain my breath another
second, I grabbed something, I scarcely knew what, and turning, struck
upward toward the blue glimmer of light far overhead.

How I managed to hold my breath during that seemingly endless climb to
the surface I cannot say, but I did it somehow, my head emerging from
the water at the very instant when the air escaped from my lungs in one
long gasp. I quickly filled them again, looked to see what I had
brought to the surface with me, and found that, as I expected, it was
the apparently lifeless form of Master Julius. I had grabbed the lad by
his ankle, so that he hung head downward in my grasp. That would never
do; so, treading water vigorously, I shifted the position of the body
until I had the head resting upon my shoulder; and at that moment I felt
myself being hove up, up, up, and the next instant a very mountain of
water went hissing and roaring over my head, plunging me helplessly
hither and thither and momentarily threatening to tear my prize from my
hold.

As soon as I had again got my breath, I looked round for the yacht. She
was nowhere in sight; but presently, as I began to wonder what had
become of her, I saw her topmast-heads swing into view beyond the head
of the comber that had just swept past me, and then up she swept until
the whole of her hull was visible. I saw a crowd of people gathered aft
by the taffrail, and others in the rigging, all peering out under the
sharp of their hands in various directions. Then, as the craft
surmounted the grey-back and came sliding down its weather slope,
rolling to windward until I could see nearly half her main-deck, one of
the figures suddenly pointed toward me, and in an instant every face
turned my way, while one man, whom I presently recognised as Kennedy,
put one hand to the side of his mouth, as though shouting, while he
pointed with the other.

Not a word could I hear, however, for my ears were still full of water,
while such sound as entered them was merely the hiss and roar of the
sea. But I guessed what the mate was poin