ed and tossed wildly, as if in exultation, over the
spot where the brave lad had disappeared; while all hands--both those on
board the smack and the people on the wreck--waited breathlessly for his
reappearance on the surface. An endless time it seemed to all; and but
for the rapid passage of the thin light line out over the smack's
taffrail, indicating that Bob was swimming swiftly under water, old Bill
Maskell would have dreaded some dreadful mishap to his _protege_; but at
last a small round dark object appeared in bold relief in the midst of a
sheet of foam, which gleamed dazzling white in the clear cold light of
the moon.

It was Bob's head.

"There he is!" was the exultant exclamation of every one of the smack's
crew, and then they sent forth upon the wings of the gale a ringing
cheer, in which those upon the wreck faintly joined.

"Now, boys," exclaimed old Bill, "clear away this here line behind me,
some of yer; and look out another nice light handy one to bend on to it
in case we wants it."

The old man himself stood on the taffrail, paying out the line and
attentively watching every heave of the plunging smack, so that Bob
might not be checked in the smallest degree in his perilous passage,
nor, on the other hand, be hampered by having a superabundance of line
paid out behind him for the tide to act upon and drag hint away to
leeward.

The distance from the smack to the wreck was but short, a mere hundred
feet or so, but with the heavy surf to contend against and the line
sagging and swaying in the sea behind him, it taxed Bob's energies to
their utmost limit to make any progress at all. Indeed, it appeared to
him that, instead of progressing, he was, like the keg, drifting
helplessly to leeward with the tide. The cold water, too, chilled him
to the very marrow and seemed to completely paralyse his energies, while
the relentless surf foamed over his head almost without intermission, so
that he had the utmost difficulty in getting his breath. Nevertheless
he fought gallantly on until, after what seemed to be an eternity of
frightful exertion, he reached the side of the wreck, and grasped the
rope which its occupants flung to him. He was too completely exhausted,
however, to mount the side at that moment; and while he clung to the
rope, regaining his breath and his strength, a mighty roller came
sweeping down upon the sands, burying the smack for the moment as it
rushed passed her, and then surging fo