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It was now so dark that there was no sign of the boat; but Wolf Larsen held back through the frightful turmoil as if guided by unerring instinct. This time, though we were continually half- buried, there was no trough in which to be swept, and we drifted squarely down upon the upturned boat, badly smashing it as it was heaved inboard.
The brig carried a pair, of davits on each quarter, so I hauled the boat up on the starboard side, made her fast, slipped down into her and hooked on the tackles, and then, climbing inboard once more, hauled them both hand-taut.
Gurney and Saunders hove their rope's-ends fair into the boat; but there was no need for them, the ship was bowed so steeply that the occupants were able to seize her rail and scramble inboard unaided.
Perhaps the Captain, who stood there, was himself a student of the art. At any rate, as the men marched aft through the screen doors his level eyes passed from face to face, reflective, observant, intensely alert. The last division reached its allotted position on the quarter-deck, turned inboard, and stood easy. The band stopped abruptly. The bell ceased tolling.
But don't you chaps be in too much of a hurry now; the orders is that you're to come up the side one at a time. And if you've got any such little matter as a knife or a pistol about you, just fork it over. Thank'e! Next man," as the man climbed inboard and without demur drew an empty pistol and his knife from his belt and handed them over.
With these he attacked the reeds and weeds, and in ten minutes or less had set the screw free. He soon reappeared on the rope-ladder, and Edgar, who had been attending to his lines, removed the bull's-eye. "What now, Joe?" he asked. "All clear," said Joe, coming inboard. "What! Done it already?" "Ay; steam ahead when you like, sir." The order was given at once.
"Caesar's ghost!" burst from the lips of the badgered young man. "I wish Betty Gallup had let me drown instead of hauling me inboard this afternoon!" An express wagon, between the shafts of which was a raw-boned gray horse leaning against one shaft as a prop while he dozed, stood before Cap'n Abe's store as Louise and Mr. Judson Bane came up from the shore front.
Poor Fidd was less fortunate than ourselves, his boat being stove the instant she ran alongside, and for a few minutes he and his crew were in a pretty pickle, hanging on to the bulwarks and channels, and wherever they could gain a hold, vainly striving to force their way inboard.
But there were no signs of either, perhaps because the mist prevented them from seeing fifty yards in any direction. There was plenty to see, however, inboard, and at the first glance round, before his gaze was concentrated upon his officer, Mark Vandean's heart sank within him at the sight of the wretched, dilapidated men, whom he had seen on the previous evening looking so smart and active.
Lay hold quick lads and hang on for your lives. Give me that end of rope ready now, all of you; I'll make the leap. Now then hold hard!" It was five feet, and up, my purchase the tossing boat, but I made it, one hand desperately gripping a shroud, until I gained balance and was flung inboard by a sharp plunge of the vessel.
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