ox leaped out and seized the rope.
Potto, who had placed his burden on a secure part of the rock, joined
us. The following sea almost filled the boat, but we dragged her bows
in, though as we did so she came with a fearful crash against the rock.
Tarbox then leaping back, seized the mate, and with almost superhuman
strength dragged him out over the side on to the rock, while we hauled
the boat up half out of the water.

"You are safe, Mr Thudicumb, you are safe!" exclaimed Tarbox to the
mate, who scarcely seemed aware of what had happened.

While Oliver, Roger Trew, and Tanda attended to the boat, Potto Jumbo
again lifted up Mr Hooker, and Tarbox and I assisted Mr Thudicumb
along over the ledge towards the shore.

"Are there any others left on board?" asked Roger Trew. "If there are,
we will pull back and try to bring them on shore."

"No one, no one," answered the boatswain; "all left before we did,
more's the pity. They would not stop, in spite of all we could say to
them."

We were soon met by Mr Sedgwick, who had returned from the house. He
cordially welcomed his old friend, moved almost to tears by the
condition in which he saw him.

"Rouse up, Hooker, my dear fellow!" he exclaimed. "You will soon have a
roof over your head and a dry bed to lie in and willing hands to take
care of you."

We soon got the party up to the house, when Frau Ursula and the girls
began eagerly to busy themselves in arranging the beds for the two sick
men. Mr Thudicumb had been hurt by the falling of a spar, and our
uncle, who fortunately possessed considerable surgical knowledge, at
once attended to his injuries.

Daylight had now returned, and as the sun rose the gale began to abate.
Mr Hooker and the mate were put to bed in my uncle's room, his own
couch accommodating one, and a mattress composed of mats serving as a
bed for the other. The rest of the party were now assembled in what my
uncle called his hall.

"And now, my good Frau, you and the young ladies must go to your roost.
As you have been night-birds, you must sleep in the day, and we will
look after these good fellows, who, I daresay, will not be sorry to take
some of the remains of our feast of last night."

"No, indeed, sir, we shall not," said Dick Tarbox; "for the truth is, we
have been far too anxious to think of grub, in the first place; and it
was a hard matter to get at any, in the second."

It was amusing to see the eagerness with which the shipwr