rt the swell; we were
leaving her slowly, for, though the breeze was light, we had to climb
the long steep slopes of a Cape Horn swell. Old Martin's broad back
was bent to the oar in front of me, Houston beyond, and the bo'sun at
the stroke. The Second Mate was standing up at the tiller, listening
for a hail, gazing anxiously ahead for gleam of a painted life-buoy.
_Clack--clack-a, clack--clack-a_; the bo'sun was setting us a feverish
stroke; it couldn't last. _Clack--clack-a, clack--clack-a_; we were
already breathing heavily. Up and down the heaving swell we went;
crawling laboured to the crown--the shudder, and the quick, sickening
descent! _Clack--clack-a_! Would it ever end? Now I was pulling out
of stroke--a feeble paddle. My neck! I had the pain there! ... "Bow,
there! Lay in, an' keep yer eyes about. He must be here somewhere!"

I laid in my oar, and faced about. We could not see far, the swell was
too great. When the boat rose we had a hasty glimpse of the face of
the water, but in the hollow, the great glassy walls rose ahead and
astern. We thought we had overrun the distance, and lay-to for a time.
Then on again, shouting as we went. The Second Mate saw something on
the crest of a roller, just a glimpse, and we pulled to it. It was
Cutler's round cap; we had steered a good course. Near by we found him
with his arm twisted round the grab rope of the lifebuoy. He was dazed
and quiet when we dragged him over the stern.

"Oh, Chris'! Oh, Chris'!" was all he said.

We were about to return when Mr. M'Kellar thought of the second
lifebuoy.

"Bow, there! D'ye see the other buoy; it'll be somewhere t' th'
norrard!"

I stood up, unsteadily. There was something white in the hollow of a
farther roller. We edged over; it was but a fleck of foam. Farther
over, up and down the swell we climbed until we found it. We turned to
row back. "Back starboard! Pull port, you!" the boat's head swung
round, and we rose quickly on the following swell.

There was a startled cry from the stern-sheets, "_O Dhia! O Dhia!_"

Well might M'Kellar cry out, for, unobserved of any, the mist had
closed in on us. There was no ship in sight, no point to steer
for--nothing to guide; there was only the great glassy walls rising and
falling, moving up into the thickening mist.

A panic seized us; furiously we rowed, driving the boat into it with no
thought of course or distance. She was awash underfoot before we