Steve stooped over, and placing his hands under the other boy's arms, lifted him to his feet.
"Brace up! You're all right now," encouraged Rush.
"Yes. I'm all right, only——"
The sailors laughed at this; then they shouted, more from relief from the strain under which they had been laboring than because of the humor of Jarvis's reply.
"Want to go in and lie down now?" questioned Steve, barely able to keep his feet.
"No!"
"Then we'll walk and see if we can get our sea legs," proposed Steve, slipping an arm about his companion's waist and starting slowly toward the stern. The boys could hardly keep their feet, they were still so weak. They staggered from one side of the passage to the other, but their iron grit kept them up.
"How is little Marie?" demanded Jarvis, suddenly turning to Rush.
"Come; we will go and see. We were forgetting our duty," muttered Steve, starting for the cabin, where the little girl had been taken.