“Save us!” they cried. “Save us! We’re alone, and the water’s gaining on us!”
“Righto, sonnies!” cried Gempton. “Keep pumping. We’ll have you off in a twinkling!”
They were brave words, but Gempton knew that a “twinkling” was a comparative term. It would be no light task to get alongside the Friendship without smashing into her, bobbing up and down as she was to the will of the waves. He manœuvred his vessel carefully to get her into the best position from which to try to effect the rescue, knowing that it would be asking the boys to jump to death to leap out and try to swim to the Gratitude. If they were to be got off, they must be fetched; and he knew it.
But try as he would, the Gratitude could not be got within distance from which the boys could be saved. There was only one way to do it; and that was to lower a boat and row over to the smack.
“I’m going, boys!” said Gempton presently. “Lower away!”
And his men hoisted the boat. Gempton, swathed in his oilskins, took his seat in it; and at the same time another man, John Tidmarsh, jumped in with him.
“I’m coming too, skipper,” he said.
“Good,” said the captain; and the two men took their seats, each of them carrying a lifebuoy. Then, pushing off, they bent their backs to the oars, and sought to pull the boat over the waves. What a tussle that was! What a fight against the elements! The wind caught them and hurled them forward; the waves broke upon them and hurled them backwards. Huge mountains of water fell upon them, swamping the boat, almost filling it; and while one man rowed the other bailed. Then on again—only to meet the same fate; bail again, and then onward through the darkness and the noise of Nature till eventually they came near to the Friendship.
Then was careful handling called for, lest the boat be dashed into the side of the smack and broken to pieces.
“Easy!” cried Gempton; and Tidmarsh grasped his oars, plied them masterfully, and just as it seemed that the boat was going to be smashed, she swung round and missed the Friendship by the fraction of a yard. And meanwhile the two boys were pumping for very life, straining eyes through the darkness to catch a glimpse of the heroes making for them.