's young master?" came out of the darkness. And now
as Dick grew a little calmer, he fancied he saw pale lambent flashes of
light on the water a little distance away.

"Here he be," shouted back Josh. "Steady, boy, steady! Don't tire
yourself like that," he added again to Dick.

The latter tried hard to obey, as he now became aware that at every
stroke he made the water flashed into pale golden light; tiny dots of
cold fire ran hither and thither beneath the surface, and ripples of
lambent phosphorescent glow fell off to right and left.

At the same moment almost, he saw, beyond the star-like lanthorns of the
steamer, the twinkling lights of the village, apparently at a tremendous
distance away, while one strong bright star shed a long ray of light
across the water, being the big lamp in the wooden cage at the end of
the harbour pier.

"Avast there, Will!" shouted Josh again; "let's overhaul you, and keep
together. Seen either o' the buoys?"

"No."

"Why don't they swim ashore?" thought Dick. "Never mind the buoys. Oh!
I shall never do it."

A cold chilly feeling of despair came over him, and he began to beat the
water more rapidly as his eyes fixed themselves wildly on the far-off
lights, and he thought of his father and brother, perhaps waiting for
him on the pier.

"Swim slowly," cried another voice close by; and Dick's heart gave a
leap. "It's a long way, but we can do it."

"Can you?" panted poor Dick, who was nearly exhausted. "How far is it?"

"About two miles, but the tide's with us."

"I can't do it," panted Dick, "not a hundred yards."

"Yes, you can," said Will firmly. "Only just move your arms steady, and
let the tide carry you along. Josh," he said more loudly, "keep close
here."

"Ay, lad, I will," replied the fisherman; and the calm, confident tones
of his companions, who spoke as if it were a matter of course to swim a
couple of miles, encouraged the lad a little; but his powers and his
confidence were fast ebbing away, and it was not a matter of many
minutes before he would have been helpless.

For even if the sea had been perfectly smooth, he was no experienced
swimmer, his efforts in this direction having been confined to a dip in
the river when out on fishing excursions, or a bit of a practice in some
swimming-bath at home. But the sea was not perfectly smooth, for the
swift tide was steadily raising the water into long, gently heaving
waves, which carried the swimmers, a