"I'll have to get help," he said.
"No, no! Don't leave me!" begged the man. "Just lower me another rope, and I can pull myself up."
Nat understood the plan. Quickly running to the other side of the barge, he found a long cable. This he fastened as he had done the first, and he let the length of it dangle between the two vessels so that the man could reach it.
"Pull now!" called the man.
Hauling on the rope about the stranger's shoulders, while the latter aided himself in the work of rescue by pulling on the second rope, the rescued one was soon on the deck of the barge beside Nat. He was so weak that he sank down in a heap as soon as he was over the rail.
"Are you hurt? Can I get you anything? Do you belong aboard this barge?" asked the boy.
"No—no, my lad," said the man slowly. "I'll be all right in a few minutes. I'm exhausted, that's all. My name is Weatherby——"
"What, John Weatherby, the pilot of the Jessie Drew?" asked Nat, who knew a number of pilots by their names.
"That's who I am, my lad. You may think it queer that a pilot should fall overboard, but I'll tell you how it happened. First, however, let me thank you with all my heart for what you did for me. But for you I would have been drowned."
"Oh, I guess not."