essel, and swung himself
aboard. The deck was pitched forward at an angle of 30 degrees, but
evidently the vessel had floated in that condition for some time, for a
sort of barricade had been made, with the right angle of the half-sunk
cabin companion hatchway as a base, and on this three bodies were lying.
A keg of water and a maggoty ham--the latter exposed to the full
sunlight of the tropics--was all the food in sight.

Eric slid down the deck to this barricade. The first man seemed to be
dead, the heart of the second was beating feebly, but the third, a
white-haired old man, appeared only to be asleep, the deep sleep of
exhaustion. When the boy put his hand on his shoulder, the old man
opened his eyes wide.

"So you have come the third time," he said, in a queer far-away voice,
"but it is too late."

Eric slipped his hand into his coat pocket and brought out a small phial
of restorative he had provided just before leaving the cutter. He gave
the survivor a few sips. The old man changed not a muscle, only repeated
in the same dull and far-away voice,

"So you have come the third time, but it is too late!"

Perceiving that the sufferer regarded him as an apparition and that in
his hallucinations born of exhaustion and exposure he must have believed
he saw rescuers before, Eric picked the old man up bodily and, half
crouching, half climbing on the sloping deck, carried him to the
derelict's side. Two of the sailors climbed up and helped him lower the
old man to the boat.

Meantime the other boat had made fast and the second lieutenant joined
him. He was a man of considerable experience, and while Eric was quite
proud of his knowledge and skill as a life-saver, he was amazed at the
deft handling of his superior officer.

[Illustration: THE GREATEST MENACE OF THE SEAS.

A sunken derelict ready to sink any vessel that strikes her.

Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.]

[Illustration: BURNED TO THE WATER'S EDGE.

Vessel abandoned and floating in the path of commerce, hunted as a
dangerous beast, and found by the Coast Guard cutters.

Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.]

"I think this one's gone," said Eric in a low voice, pointing to the
first man he had seen.

The other cast a quick look at him and shook his head.

"Pretty far gone, but not quite," he answered. "There's always a
fighting chance that we can pull him through. I'll take these two into
my boat and get back to the cutter. We'll probably blow this