“Well,” he remarked, carelessly. “That’s a mark to my credit, anyhow. I’ve saved your life, Jackson. Please see that you do me no discredit in the ten minutes that you will retain it.”
The other glared at him stupidly.
“Susan didn’t want me to come,” he mumbled. “She said I’d never come back——”
His voice died away into incoherent murmurs.
Howard looked at the man, and his lip curled contemptuously. He said nothing, however, but turned in silence toward where the boat had sunk.
The next instant he started and glanced swiftly around him. His eyes fell on a life-preserver lodged in the broken doorway by the last wave that had retreated from his feet. He snatched it up and buckled it round him; then fastened one end of a rope beneath his arms and thrust the other into the hands of the stupefied officer.
“There! Wake up, man!” he ordered. “Wake up and stand by!”
Jackson stared at him. “Where? What? How?” he mumbled.
“Wake up, man! Don’t you see it’s a woman?”
As he saw the returning intelligence dawn in Jackson’s eyes, Howard slipped to the toppling brink of the bulwarks and stood watching for the next heave of the sea. As it came, with a white rag sopping foolishly on its crest, he waved his hand to the other.