There was no time to lose now. Our hero seized the two little girls and put them into the bag which hung from the circular lifebuoy.

“Take care of my darlings,” gasped the captain of the brig, who clung to the ship’s side almost quite exhausted.

“Come, get into the buoy, and go ashore with ’em yourself,” cried our hero.

“No. The three of us would be too heavy; send the steward. He’s a light man and brave,” replied the captain.

The steward was ordered to jump on the buoy and cling to it, so as to guard the little ones and prevent their being thrown out.

A signal having been again given with the lantern, the lifebuoy was drawn swiftly to land. It was a terrible passage, for the brig had begun to roll on her rocky bed, and at every roll the hawser and the lifebuoy dipped into the sea, or were jerked violently out of it, while the risk . . . Read More