41 Lure O Gold 1904

"
"
The Lure o 9
Gold
before we got near enough to take the men off we saw
the little craft s bow rise in the water, her stern settling
rapidly, and down she went, her bowsprit showing for a
moment above the waves and then disappearing from
sight, leaving nothing but the blank, open sea where the
little schooner had been so gallantly fighting for her life.
I
shuddered, and I saw the Doctor shudder, too, as
he gasped:
God! She "My s gone!"
A few pieces of wreckage now appeared on the sur
face, and clinging to one of these I saw a man. I
clutched the first officer s arm and called out excitedly:
"
"
See him see him ! Can t we save him ?
"We ll try, my said lad," he, coolly, to my mind not
nearly so much affected by the sight of the struggling
man as he should have been. "Lower that boat,
Max."
Lower away
!
I heard Fishley call to his men.
He
was sitting
in the stern of the little craft himself and had
four brawny
fellows to man the oars.
Little as I had
reason to like the third officer, I could not, in spite
of
myself, help admiring him as he sat there, swinging
down to the surging waves which would have daunted
the heart of many a hardy seaman.
[140]
Soon the boat was