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Page 13
Through this "V" the heavy cable was passed, the one end being fast
to the anchor buried in the sand, and the other being attached to
the ship. By moving the shears nearer to the anchor the cable was
tightened until it hung taut from shore to ship, a slender bridge on
which to save life.
The breeches buoy, a canvas arrangement, shaped like a short pair of
trousers, and attached to a frame which ran back and forth on the
cable by means of pulleys, had been adjusted. To it were fastened
ropes, one being retained by the life savers and one by those on the
ship. All was in readiness.
The breeches buoy was now pulled toward the ship, by those aboard
hauling on the proper line. It moved along, sliding on the heavy
cable, the angry waves below seeming to try to leap up and engulf
it, in revenge for being cheated of their prey.
"Look sharp now, men!" cried the captain. "Get ready to take care
of the poor souls as they come ashore."
The storm still kept up, and the waves were so high that a second
attempt to save some by means of the life-boat, even launching it in
the protected cove, had to be given up. But the breeches buoy could
be depended on.
A signal from the ship told those on shore that the buoy was loaded
with a passenger, and ready to be hauled back. Willing hands pulled
on the rope. On it came through the driving rain; on it came above
the waves, though not so high but what the spray from the crests wet
the rescued one.
"It's a woman!" cried the captain, as he caught sight of the person
in the buoy.
"And a baby! Bless my soul!" added Bailey. "She's got a baby in her
arms!"
And so it proved; for, wrapped in a shawl, which was tied over her
shoulders, so as to keep the water from the tiny form, was an infant
clasped tightly to its mother's breast.
"Take her to the station!" cried the captain, as he helped the woman
to get out of the canvas holder in which she had ridden safely to
shore. "My wife will look after her. Now for the rest, men. There's
lots of 'em, and the ship can't last much longer! Lively, men. Every
minute means a life!"
"I'll take her to the station!" volunteered Larry, for there was
nothing he could do to help now, and he thought he could get a good
story of the wreck from the first person rescued.
"Go ahead!" exclaimed the life savers' captain.
The woman, in spite of her terrible experience, had not fainted.
Still clasping her baby, she moved through the crowd of men, who
cheered her as they set to work again.
"Come with me," said Larry. "We will take care of you!"
"Oh, it is so good to be on land again!" the woman cried. "I am not
a coward--but oh, the cruel waves!" and she shuddered.
CHAPTER V
LARRY'S SCOOP
"Are there many women aboard?" asked Larry, as he moved off through
the rain toward the life-saving station with the rescued passenger.
"I was the only one," was the answer the woman made, in a pronounced
Italian accent. "I am the purser's wife. They made me come first. Me
and the baby," and she put her lips down and kissed the little face
nestled in the folds of the shawl.
"The purser's wife!" exclaimed Larry. "Perhaps your husband will
bring the passenger list with him. I would like to get it. I am a
newspaper reporter," he added.
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