"I got a grip on him as he rose. He couldn't swim better'n a few
strokes at the best. (So many of our boys won't larn to swim--they
say it only lengthens things out when your time comes.) . . . The man
was drownin', but he had sproil enough to catch at me and try to pull
me under along with him. I knew that trick, though, luckily. . . .
I got him round on his back, with my hands under his armpits, and
kicked out for the _Maid in Two Minds_.
"'Tisn't easy to climb straight out o' the water and board a lugger--
not at the best of times, when you've only yourself to look after;
and the _Maid in Two Minds_ had no accommodation-ladder hung
out . . . But, as luck would have it, they'd downed sail anyhow and,
among other things, left the out-haul of the mizen danglin' slack and
close to the water. I reached for this, shortened up on it till I
had it taut, and gave it into his hand to cling by--which he had the
sense to do, havin' fetched back some of his wits. After that I
scrambled on to the mizen-boom somehow and hauled him aboard mainly
by his collar and seat of his trousers. It was a job, too; and the
first thing he did on deck was to reach his head overside and be
vi'lently sick.
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