The men referred to hauled in their oars, and the remainder of the crew, Benny doing his best with the heavy implement Sam had been wielding, worked the life-boat around until she was to leeward of the lighter.
“Jump when I give the word, and then slack away on the cables. Look around for spare anchors! If any be found, heave them out; but remember that you must work lively! Are you ready? jump!”
The four men leaped as one, and the life-boat was hurled back by the impetus until a dozen yards of water tumbled between her and the lighter.
A long sigh of relief escaped from Benny’s lips as he saw that his comrades had gained a safe footing on the rolling, pitching hulk, and then it was necessary that he give his undivided attention to working the oar, lest the waves should wrest it from his grasp.
Downey’s purpose was to keep the life-boat under the lee of the lighter to lessen the labor of his men, and even this was an extremely difficult matter, for the sea increased in violence momentarily, while there were but three men and a boy at the oars.
Hardy, Cushing, Sawyer, and Henderson were the men detailed for the work of securing the heavy hulk, and there were none among the crew stronger or more able to perform the task, yet it was soon seen that they were working at a great disadvantage owing to lack of numbers.
“There are no spare anchors here!” Hardy cried out after he had been on board the unwieldy craft ten minutes or more. “There’s only an apology for a windlass, an’ I question if it won’t go by the board before many hours.”
“Give her more scope, for it’s all we can do, and get on board again smartly; the lighter nearest inshore is dragging badly,” Downey shouted in reply.
As was afterward learned, the men had but just loosened the carelessly laid turns from the shaky windlass when a huge sea lifted the stern of the lighter high in the air, and, passing forward, allowed the heavy after part to drop into the trough of the sea with a snap that would have tested the timbers of a strong vessel.
Those on board the life-boat heard a crashing and rending as of wood; saw the huge hulk rise again on a wave, and then came the cry from Joe Cushing: