e stern, and they fell back, allowing him
clear space, while he swung the lantern out before him, and peered into
the dusk that obscured his view.

"Let her go easy now," he shouted, and the steamer moved slowly on, a
profound silence falling upon the crowd of passengers as they watched
with throbbing eagerness for the first sign of the imperiled ones being
sighted.

Gazing hard into the gloom, the keen-eyed captain caught sight of a
gleam of white upon the water.

"Stop her!" he roared, with a voice like that of the north wind. "Hand
me that life preserver!"--turning to the mate who stood near him. The
mate obeyed, and coiling the long rope ready for a throw the captain
waited, while the steamer drew nearer to the speck of white.

"Look out there!" he cried to the boys in the water. "Lay hold of this."
And swinging the big life preserver around his head as though it had
been a mere toy, he hurled it far out before him, where the beams of
light from the lantern showed not one but three white objects scarce
above the surface of the water.

"Look sharp now! lay hold there!" he cried again, and then: "All right.
Keep your grip, and we'll have you in a minute." Then turning to those
behind him: "Lower that boat--quick!"

The davits creaked and groaned as the ropes spun through the blocks;
there was a big splash when the boat struck the water, a few fierce
strokes of the oars, and then a glad shout of, "All right; we've got
them," in response to which cheer upon cheer rang out from the throng
above, now relieved from their intense anxiety.

A few minutes later, three dripping forms were carefully handed up the
side, and taken into the warm engine room, the little girl still
unconscious, and the boys so exhausted as to be not far from the same
condition.

Their rescue had been effected just in time. A little more, and utterly
unable to keep themselves afloat any longer, they would have sunk
beneath the pitiless waves.

"It seemed awful to have to die that way," said Bert, when telling his
parents about it. "I was getting weaker and weaker all the time, and so,
too, was Frank, and I thought we'd have to let the poor little girl go,
and strike out for ourselves. But we kept praying hard to God to help
us; and then all of a sudden I saw a light, and I said to Frank,
'There's the steamer--hold on a little longer;' and then I could hear
the sound of the paddles, and the next thing the captain shouted to us
and flung us