t. He didn't even know he was
actually doing it. But he did it, all the same, with the simple,
straightforward, instinctive sense of duty which makes civilized man act
aright, all unconsciously, in any moment of supreme danger and
difficulty. Leaping on to the taffrail without one instant's delay, and
steadying himself for an indivisible fraction of time with his hand on
the rope ladder, he peered out into the darkness with keen eyes for a
glimpse of Muriel Ellis's head above the fierce black water; and espying
it for one second, as she came up on a white crest, he plunged in before
the vessel had time to roll back to windward, and struck boldly out in
the direction where he saw that helpless object dashed about like a cork
on the surface of the ocean.

Only those who have known such accidents at sea can possibly picture to
themselves the instantaneous haste with which all that followed took
place upon that bustling quarter-deck. Almost at the first cry of "Man
overboard!" the captain's bell rang sharp and quick, as if by magic, with
three peremptory little calls in the engine-room below. The Australasian
was going at full speed, but in a marvellously short time, as it seemed
to all on board, the great ship had slowed down to a perfect standstill,
and then had reversed her engines, so that she lay, just nose to the
wind, awaiting further orders. In the meantime, almost as soon as the
words were out of the bo'sun's lips, a sailor amidships had rushed to the
safety belts hung up by the companion ladder, and had flung half a dozen
of them, one after another, with hasty but well-aimed throws, far, far
astern, in the direction where Felix had disappeared into the black
water. The belts were painted white, and they showed for a few seconds,
as they fell, like bright specks on the surface of the darkling sea; then
they sunk slowly behind as the big ship, still not quite stopped,
ploughed her way ahead with gigantic force into the great abyss of
darkness in front of her.

It seemed but a minute, too, to the watchers on board, before a party of
sailors, summoned by the whistle with that marvellous readiness to meet
any emergency which long experience of sudden danger has rendered
habitual among seafaring men, had lowered the boat, and taken their seats
on the thwarts, and seized their oars, and were getting under way on
their hopeless quest of search, through the dim black night, for those
two belated souls alone in the midst o