As the Malays were to a
man almost as much at home in the water as on land, the accident
would have had little effect beyond the loss of the boat and its
contents, had it not been that the stern of the other craft struck
the Malay chief with such force as to completely disable him, and
he would have sunk at once had not two of the boatmen grasped him
and kept his head above water.
"What has become of the child?" Harry Parkhurst exclaimed, and he
and Dick Balderson both leaped on to the rail, throwing off their
jackets as they shouted to the men to lower a boat. Nothing could
be seen of the child until, after half a minute's suspense, a little
face suddenly appeared in the swirl of the muddy water some fifteen
yards from the vessel's side. It was gone again in an instant,
but, as it disappeared, both lads sprang from the side and with a
few strokes reached the spot where they had seen the face disappear;
then they dived under water and soon grasped her. As soon as they
came to the surface a sailor, who had seized a coil of rope, flung
it to them, and, grasping it, they were quickly by the side of the
gunboat.
A minute later some sailors, who had at once tumbled into a boat
on the alarm being given, came up. The child was first handed into
it, then the midshipmen scrambled in, and, by their directions,
two of the sailors, standing on the thwarts, lifted the child high
above their heads to the hands of the men leaning over the bulwark.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25