“Are you going to leave those other two poor fellows to fall off the rock as food for the sharks, Mr Belton?” said Terry, who had been put out of temper by the action of the men.
“I think you can answer that question yourself, Mr Terry,” said Roylance, flushing up angrily.
Syd made no reply, but quietly gave his orders.
“Mr Roylance,” he said, “are you well enough to take charge of the men here, as they haul the boat along, while I go and see to the bo’sun and Rogers being got up the cliff?”
“Well enough? yes,” cried Roylance, upon whom the short encounter with Terry had acted like a stimulus.
Terry turned pale with rage at being passed over, and he followed Syd and four of the men as they hurried along with the rope set at liberty coiled up.
It was with no little anxiety that the party approached the spot where Rogers had gone down, while Terry, who had expressed so much interest in the fate of the two men, oddly enough hung behind.
Syd was the first to reach the place, and looked over to be greeted by Rogers with a hail.
“Is Mr Strake all right?”
“Ay, ay, sir; all but my bark,” said the boatswain. “Don’t say, sir, as you haven’t got Mr Roylance off the boat.”