ew, but it was all due to a man
having stepped in the darkness where he had no business to be; for just
after the giving of the order, and while the spokes were swinging
through the steersman's hands, one of the booms swung round, there was a
dull thud, a half-uttered shout, and then a yell from one of the
foremost men.

"Man overboard!" was roared, and as the skipper ran forward, after
shouting to the steersman to throw the schooner up into the wind,
another man answered his eager question with--

"It's Bob Jackson, sir. I saw him go."

The captain's excited voice rang out mingled with the shrill whistle of
the boatswain's pipe, and then to be half-drowned by his hoarse roar as
the men's feet pattered over the deck, now rapidly growing level as the
pressure was taken off the sails.

"Now then, half-a-dozen of you!" came hoarsely. "Don't stand staring
there! Are you going to be all night lowering down that boat? Sharp's
the word! I am going to show you the way."

As he spoke, Fitz had a dim vision of the big bluff fellow's action, as,
pulling out his knife, he opened it with his teeth.

"Sharks below there!" he roared. "'Ware my knife!" and running right
astern he sprang on to the rail, looked round for a moment, fixed his
eyes upon a luminous splash of light that had just taken Fitz's
attention, and then sprang overboard into the black water, which
splashed up like a fountain of fire, and the bluff sailor's figure,
looking as if clad in garments of lambent gold, could be seen gliding
diagonally down, forming a curve as it gradually rose to the surface,
which began to emit little plashes of luminosity as the man commenced to
swim.

"Well done! Bravo!" panted Fitz, and then he rushed to the spot where
the men were lowering down, sprang on to the bulwark, caught at the
falls, and slipped down into the boat just as it kissed the water.

"You here!" cried a familiar voice.

"Yes," panted Fitz, "and you too!"

"Why, of course! Pull away, my lads. I'll stand up and tell you which
way to go."

The falls were already unhooked and the oars over the side, the men
pulling with all their might in the direction where the regular splashes
made by the motion of the boatswain's arm could be seen as he scooped
away at the water with a powerful side stroke.

"Pull, lads--pull!" roared the skipper's son, while in his excitement
Fitz scrambled over the oars to get right in the bows, where he strained
his eyes to tr