urned
her bow down the shore. When this was done, it was on the instant, and,
although a little more water came inboard, there was not enough to be
dangerous. Then, with the gale astern and the tide to help, Captain
Eri made the dory go as she, or any other on that coast, had never gone
before.

The Captain knew that the wind and the tide that were now aiding him
were also sweeping the overturned lifeboat along at a rapid rate. He
must come up with it before it reached the next shoal. He must reach
it before the waves, and, worse than all, the cold had caused the poor
fellows clinging to it for life to loose their grip.

The dory jumped from crest to crest like a hurdler. The sleet now beat
directly into the Captain's face and froze on his eyebrows and lashes,
but he dared not draw in an oar to free a hand. The wind caught up the
spindrift and poured it over him in icy baths, but he was too warm from
the furious exercise to mind.

In the lulls he turned his head and gazed over the sea, looking for the
boat. Once he saw it, before the storm shut down again, and he groaned
aloud to count but two black dots on its white surface. He pulled harder
than ever, and grunted with every stroke, while the perspiration poured
down his forehead and froze when it reached the ice dams over his eyes.

At last it was in plain sight, and the two dots, now clearly human
beings, were still there. He pointed the bow straight at it and rowed
on. When he looked again there was but one, a figure sprawled along the
keel, clinging to the centerboard.

The flying dory bore down upon the lifeboat, and the Captain risked what
little breath he had in a hail. The clinging figure raised its head, and
Captain Eri felt an almost selfish sense of relief to see that it was
Luther Davis. If it had to be but one, he would rather it was that one.

The bottom of the lifeboat rose like a dome from the sea that beat and
roared over and around it. The centerboard had floated up and projected
at the top, and it was about this that Captain Davis' arms were clasped.
Captain Eri shot the dory alongside, pulled in one oar, and the two
boats fitted closely together. Then Eri reached out, and, seizing his
friend by the belt round his waist, pulled him from his hold. Davis fell
into the bottom of the dory, only half conscious and entirely helpless.

Captain Eri lifted him so that his head and shoulders rested on a
thwart, and then, setting his oar against the life