He had no time to lose and he had to plan quickly. Should he confide in Ben? He decided against it. Ben would, he knew, forbid the attempt, and he had promised his father to obey him. There was nothing for it but to let Ben remain in ignorance. It was better for the success of the plan that he should. It would be hard on him, but it could not be helped.
The Mary was now nearing Saltern. Dare went to the fo'c'sle, and taking off his heavy boots put on a pair of loose slippers, which could be kicked off easily once he was in the water.
Trousers and a shirt would thus be his only impediments. Having made these preparations he went on deck. The ship was in darkness. He looked ashore and could just descry a line of breakers which betokened, he hoped, a beach. Now was his chance! By the greatest good luck the mate at this moment gave the order to pump the ship. He told Dare to draw a bucket of water. Dare jumped at the chance to fake an accident. The deck was sufficiently dark for his purpose.
Dare approached the side and in the shadow of the rigging, which obscured his movements, threw the bucket overboard. He began drawing it up hand over hand; then, as he leaned forward to take it in over the rail, he pretended to slip. He gave a shout of alarm and fell into the sea, taking a perfect header.
He dived deep and swam under water towards shore until he was forced to come to the surface. When he emerged the Mary was already some distance away, but her engine had been reversed and there were sounds of confusion rising from her deck. Evidently there was some doubt as to who had fallen overboard. He gave a shout of "Cramp!" Immediately there was an answering hail. He shouted "Help!" more feebly, then remained silent and attended upon the event.
He heard suddenly Ben's voice, hoarse with terror: "Show a light! Lower a boat! The boy's drowning!"
And closely following came Pierre's voice: "Knock that old fool on the head! He'll rouse the whole coast. How'd that boy fall overboard? Can you see him? Where is he? Give a shout and if he answers we'll lower a boat."
A guarded shout rang out. Silence followed it. Dare heard someone say: "I heard him shout 'cramp.' He's done for."
"Looks like there's nothing we can do," said Pierre. "We might as well get under way again. We've got no time to lose. Lower the spars."
At this moment Ben, who had evidently been stunned by a blow, began to recover and shout again.