"It's not too late. Come, Frank, dear, we'll both pray to God to have mercy upon us," urged Bert; and inspired by his earnestness, Frank obeyed. And there, in the midst of the waves, with their senseless burden between them, the two boys lifted up their souls in supplication to their Omnipotent Father—Bert with the confidence that came of past experience, Frank with the agonised entreaty of one praying in sore need, and, for the first time, with the whole heart. A strange place for a prayer meeting, indeed; but they were as near the great heart of God as though they had been in His grandest cathedral, and the answer to their earnest pleading was already on its way.
When the two young heroes leaped into the water, there had at first been great confusion on board the Mic-Mac, but a minute or two later the captain's gruff voice was heard roaring out orders. The paddles that had been thrashing the waves so vigorously suddenly stopped, were silent for a moment, and then recommenced; but now they were bearing the steamer backward instead of forward.
"Get ready the boat for launching," thundered the captain. And half-a-dozen men sprang to obey.
"Light a couple of lanterns," he shouted again. And in an instant it was done.
"Reeve a long line round one of them life preservers, and stand ready for a throw," he cried to the mate. And almost before he had finished speaking the mate stood ready.
"Now, then, clear away there all of you," he growled at the excited crowd that pressed toward the stern, and they fell back, allowing him clear space, while he swung the lantern out before him, and peered into the dusk that obscured his view.
"Let her go easy now," he shouted, and the steamer moved slowly on, a profound silence falling upon the crowd of passengers as they watched with throbbing eagerness for the first sign of the imperiled ones being sighted.
Gazing hard into the gloom, the keen-eyed captain caught sight of a gleam of white upon the water.
"Stop her!" he roared, with a voice like that of the north wind. "Hand me that life preserver!"—turning to the mate who stood near him. The mate obeyed, and coiling the long rope ready for a throw the captain waited, while the steamer drew nearer to the speck of white.
"Look out there!" he cried to the boys in the water. "Lay hold of this." And swinging the big life preserver around his head as though it had been a mere toy, he hurled it far out before him, where the beams of light from the lantern showed not one but three white objects scarce above the surface of the water.