ck, lads, quick, and I'll try to get hold of one or both of them, if
I can," cried Ben, fastening the rope round his body. His example was
followed by another man, who, in the same way, secured a rope round
himself, when both plunged in and seized the well-nigh drowning
strangers, just as, utterly exhausted, they had let go their hold. They
were able, however, to speak, and Rayner discovered that they were
French.

By the captain's directions he inquired the name of the ship.

"The _Zenobie_ frigate, of forty guns and three hundred and forty men,"
was the answer. "We had an action yesterday with an English frigate,
which made off while we were repairing damages, but truly she so knocked
us about that when we were caught by the gale our masts went over the
side, and we were driven utterly helpless on this terrible coast."

Rayner did not tell the _Thisbe's_ men, who were trying to assist the
hapless strangers, that they were their late antagonists. He merely
said, "They are Frenchmen, lads; but I'm sure that will make no
difference to any of us."

"I should think not, whether they're Mynheers or Mounseers," cried Ben.
"They're drowning, and want our help; so, whether enemies or friends,
we'll try to haul as many of the poor fellows ashore as we can get hold
of, and give them dry jackets, and a warm welcome afterwards. Slack
away, mates!" And he plunged into the foaming billows.

His progress was anxiously watched as he rose now on the top of a
roaring sea, now concealed as he sank into the hollow to appear again on
the side of another, all the time buffeting the foaming breakers, now
avoiding a mass of timber, now grasping a spar, and making it support
him as he forced his way onward, until he was lost to sight in the
gloom.

After a considerable time of intense anxiety it was found that the line
was taut. Ben had, it was supposed, reached the forechains of the
frigate. Then the question rose, whether he would be able to make
himself understood by the Frenchmen. One of the men, however, who had
been washed on shore said that he believed one or two people on board
understood English; but it was doubtful whether they were among those
who had already perished.

Some more minutes passed, and then they felt the line shaken. It was
the signal for them to haul in. Rapidly pulling away, they at length
had the satisfaction of finding the end of a stout hawser, with a
smaller line attached to it. The hawser was