Soon after noon the wind had risen to a gale, and instead of lying stretched in a warm sun on a placid sea, the shipwrecked party were huddled together under a cold and lowering sky. They crouched in silence, for no one felt like talking.
When the raft made an especially violent plunge and nearly stood on edge, they all clutched each other, and by their very bulk maintained their position. At one such time, however, [Sidney failed to grasp the man who was next him, and slid to the edge]. He only saved himself there by seizing hold of a stick which protruded a little above the level of the raft.
The boy was so nearly paralyzed by fright that when the raft settled to a level again, he could not get back to the center until he was pulled in by one of the men.
“It won’t do to take such chances as that,” said Captain Foster. “Mr. Wright, knot together the pieces of rope that we used in the sail. Then tie one end to one edge of the raft, bring it across the center and tie to the other side. We’ll all take hold of that, and we shan’t be washed off.”
The mate found there was enough rope to extend across the raft and pass back again, making it double. He also fastened the middle to the raft, and had a secure anchor.
“Now, boys,” said Captain Foster, “grasp the line, and don’t let go for an instant.”
Sidney’s narrow escape was all the warning that was necessary to make the boys, even Raymond, obey implicitly. The men did not need any warning for caution, for their experience of the ocean was sufficient to show them their danger. So all the members of the party gripped the rope with the tenacity of fear.
The supporting rope had not been provided any too soon, for the gale increased in intensity. Indeed the strength of the unfortunates who clung to the rope was sometimes taxed to the utmost to enable them to maintain their hold. Without that support they would certainly have been washed away.