ou now--I can't talk to you now," the poor lad groaned
more than spoke, as we stood there close to where the waves came running
in.

The lugger had a good many men on board as she lay out there, quite
three hundred yards away, though it had seemed only one from high up in
the Gap, and the cutter was quite half a mile from where we stood, and
more to the east.

All at once Bigley lifted up both his arms, and stood with them
outstretched for quite a minute.

"What are you doing that for?" I said.

He made no answer but remained in the same position, and kept so while I
watched the boat rising and falling on the heaving tide, with every one
distinctly visible in the evening sun.

As I have said the lugger lay with her bows straight towards the Gap;
but all of a sudden she began to change her position, the bows swinging
slowly round, and I realised that the rope by which she had swung had
been cast off, for the buoy was plainly to be seen now several fathoms
away.

Just then I saw old Jonas start up in the bows of the boat and clap his
hands to his mouth, his voice coming clearly to us over the wave.

"You, Bill! You're adrift! Lower down that foresail, you swab, lower
down that foresail! Throw her up in the wind!"

This sail had begun to fill, but a man ran to the tiller, and the
lugger's position changed slowly, the sails flapping and the bows
pointing gradually in our direction again.

All this while the men in the cutter's gig were pulling with all their
might, and rapidly shortened the distance, till the bow man picked up a
boat-hook, and stood ready to hold on.

It was all so clear against the black side of the lugger, that we missed
nothing, and to my surprise, I saw old Jonas draw back as if to let the
bow man pass him, and then there was a tremendous splash, the bow man
was overboard, and old Jonas had made a leap driving the light gig away
with his feet, catching the side of the lugger, and swinging himself
aboard.

It was so quickly and deftly done that the cutter's gig was driven yards
away, and Jonas was aboard before the lieutenant had recovered from his
surprise.

Then the men pulled their hardest, and the distance between lugger and
boat diminished fast, but as it did the sails began to fill, and the
position altered, for a man had run to the tiller, while half a dozen
more stood at the side, one of whom was old Jonas.

Bigley uttered a curious hissing noise as he caught my hand, while w