In spite of all efforts to keep the vessel from going coastward the schooner gradually but surely drifted toward a line of reefs, and the strain was so great on the rudder that the Yankee issued an order for bracing it.
Of course Stumpy and Leicester were told off, and without a moment's hesitation they seized the necessary ropes and commenced the perilous task.
Leicester expected every moment that he and his comrade in danger would be blown or buffeted overboard, and so kept a keen lookout for Stumpy and grasped a spar, upon which he knelt, with the determination of an already drowning man.
The result showed that his fears were well grounded.
Suddenly he missed from his side the small but courageous form of his comrade.
Stumpy had succumbed to the latest billow.
With a shout of "A man overboard!" he hung over the side and peered into the heaving deep.
Grasping the spar in both hands Leicester rose to his full height, and, amid a roar of warning and excitement from the crew, leaped into the sea.
The drowning man was very nearly finished by Leicester's well meant effort at rescue, for the spar just missed his head by a foot.
As it was, however, he seized it with a convulsive grasp, and the two men were once more together.