"'Can you hold on?'
"'Not much longer, I'm afeared.'
"'Keep your spirits up,' says he, cheery like, and then it was all quiet. However, we must have drifted pretty close together, for, directly day broke, there he was, not twenty yards off, with a lifebuoy round him, and clinging to a light spar.
"'How goes it now?' says he; and when I tells him I'm nearly done, he says, 'I've a good mind to keep you company. I've some rope here, and a draw or two round the body will keep you tight.' With that he swims over and lashes me to the mast. Presently he says again, quiet as anything, 'Look here, Davies; it's no go! This won't hold us both; I must take my chance. Good-bye, and if you've the luck to be picked up, just let 'em know over in England that I stood by the ship till she went down.'
"Them were his last words. He let go, and the last I saw of him he was striking out towards the shore. Of course he never reached it, though he was a strong swimmer, too. After that I lost count of things, and don't know anything more till my eyes opened aboard the Cormorant. The lashings saved me, or I should have gone under as sure as fate."
The story of her husband's bravery filled Mrs. Hartland with honest pride; but, unfortunately it extinguished the last spark of hope that, almost unknown, had lurked in the recesses of her mind. However, she faced the matter bravely, and talked over her plans with Jim.
"We shall have to leave this house," she said, "and find a cheaper one. Then I must get some kind of work to do."
"What about Susie?" asked Jim.
"Ah, that's the trouble! I can't very well go out and leave her alone. Perhaps I can get some plain sewing."
"Haven't we any money at all, mother?" the boy asked presently.