seem powerfully set on saving me."

His teeth chattered as he spoke, and his face was pinched and
hollow-eyed from cold and exposure. But he was handsome, for all that--
a fellow not much older than Zeb, lean and strongly made. His voice had
a cultivated ring.

"Yes," answered Zeb, as, with one hand on the line that now connected
the wreck with the shore, he sat down astride the mast facing him; "I
reckon I'll do't."

"Unlucky, isn't it?"

"What?"

"To save a man from drowning."

"Maybe. Untie these corks from my chest, and let me slip 'em round
yourn. How your fingers do shake, to be sure!"

"I call you to witness," said the other, with a shiver, "you are saving
me on your own responsibility."

"Can 'ee swim?"

"I could yesterday."

"Then you can now, wi' a belt o' corks an' me to help. Keep a hand on
the line an' pull yoursel' along. Tide's runnin' again by now.
When you'm tired, hold fast by the rope an' sing out to me. Stop; let
me chafe your legs a bit, for how you've lasted out as you have is more
than I know."

"I was on the foretop most of the night. Those fools--" he broke off to
nod at the corpses.

"They'm dead," put in Zeb, curtly.

"They lashed themselves, thinking the foremast would stand till
daylight. I climbed down half an hour before it went. I tell you
what, though; my legs are too cramped to move. If you want to save me
you must carry me."

"I was thinkin' the same. Well, come along; for tho' I don't like the
cut o' your jib, you'm a terrible handsome chap, and as clean-built as
ever I see. Now then, one arm round my neck and t'other on the line,
but don't bear too hard on it, for I doubt 'tis weakish. Bless the
Lord, the tide's running."

So they began their journey. Zeb had taken barely a dozen strokes when
the other groaned and began to hang more heavily on his neck. But he
fought on, though very soon the struggle became a blind and horrible
nightmare to him. The arm seemed to creep round his throat and strangle
him, and the blackness of a great night came down over his eyes.
Still he struck out, and, oddly enough, found himself calling to his
comrade to hold tight.

When Sim Udy and Elias Sweetland dashed in from the shore and swam to
the rescue, they found the pair clinging to the line, and at a
standstill. And when the four were helped through the breakers to firm
earth, Zeb tottered two steps forward and dropped in a swoon, burying
his face in the san