“'Vast jaw, my hearty!” murmured the man wearily.
“That's the tone that fills the air wi' th' smell o' salt beef for me whene'er I hears 'un—ay, sirs, salt beef more lifelike and lively than this high ship-master who I trow hath ofttimes watched a ration toddle round the cuddy table like to a guileless infant.”
“Heave all, with a will!” cried Wise, and the four men raised the other as tenderly as a bulk so considerable could be taken off the ground, and bore him with some staggering and heavy breathing, down to where the youngest of the Garvice family was keeping the dinghy afloat over the rapidly shallowing sand.
An hour later, when the day was still young, Wesley was kneeling by his bedside giving thanks to Heaven for having allowed him to participate in the privilege of saving a fellow-creature from death.
CHAPTER XXIV
He slept for an hour or two, but awoke feeling strangely unrefreshed. But he joined Hartwell at breakfast and heard the news that the latter had acquired during his usual half-hour's stroll through the village.
After shaking his guest warmly by the hand, Hartwell cried:
“What, Mr. Wesley, was it that you did not believe you had adventure enough for one Summer's day, that you must needs fare forth in search of others before sunrise?”