ow
long--how long? O God! if they would only make haste. Could they not see
that every moment was precious, that the old ship was breaking up fast?

He began to count the men in the rigging, nineteen of them, men and
boys, and the skipper was helpless with a broken leg. It would take them
some time to get off. And yet not so long though--once they had the rope
aboard.

They got the apparatus fixed at last, and then "swish." They could not
see anything, for it was broad daylight now, but they heard the sigh of
the rocket as it passed and knew it had missed. A despairing cry went
up from the perishing men, for they, like the second mate, were counting
their chances and reckoning them poor indeed. It almost seemed a matter
of minutes now.

Again the men on shore tried, and this time the shout that went up was
one of triumph. The thin line lodged beautifully over the mast, and the
men in their awkward position hauled it in, and it seemed as if they had
home and happiness within their grasp when the block came along.

Very carefully they made the thick rope fast round the mizzen lower
masthead, the bo'sun still brisk and cheerful after the terrible night
which he had spent in the rigging, his only covering a pair of torn
dungaree trousers.

"None of your darned men-o'-war slippery hitches about this," said he;
and Harper, as he saw the breeches-buoy come along the stout cable,
could have shouted as the men were doing. Here was happiness and
safety--here was the woman he loved--nay, should he not say rather the
woman who loved him--waiting on shore for him, and would she deny him
now he had come through so much? His little girl, his darling! One by
one he watched the men go, he watched the breeches-buoy swallowed up in
the raging waters, he watched them received on shore as men risen from
the dead, and he counted eagerly the moments till his turn should come.
They knew now on shore the name of the ship. Was that woman on shore
looking seaward, his Susy? She had a red shawl, he remembered, as we do
remember trifles in the supreme moments of our life. That must be Susy,
and she was thinking of him. Only six now. And now only five. For
one brief moment he felt as if he were tasting the bliss of perfect
happiness. Could he have doubted that a merciful God ruled this world
of ours? Ah, little girl, you shall learn a newer, purer, more pitiful
faith, and Ben Harper will be your teacher, and then--and then---- All
the exultati