Thrown into the boat in a fainting condition, Jessie was a most undesirable burden, and for the few that pitied her, there was a majority who scowled in anger, declaring that the additional weight would cause them all to lose their lives.
“Oh, no, no, no!—let us be glad we can save her beautiful life!” cried the only one other woman in the boat, and dipping her hand in the water, she tenderly laved the girl’s pale brow, trying to restore animation to the still form.
But it was a long, deep swoon, and no wonder—torn from her beloved father, leaving him to a most certain death, Jessie’s nerves had quite given way. She lay still and lifeless among them, heedless alike of bitter imprecations or exclamations of tender pity.
The most of these men were the offscourings of the passengers and crew—coarse, brutal men, selfish to the last extreme, ignorant of sympathy or pity. One of these men cried loudly:
“She is dead, and cannot be resuscitated. Let us cast her out!”
“Yes, let us do it! It is ill luck carrying a dead body!” cried a superstitious sailor.
Then the wrangle began, the woman and a few men declaring that the girl was yet alive and should be kept in the boat, others clamoring to get rid of the helpless burden. It ended in a struggle where the strong overpowered the weak, and amid the shrieks of the woman and the expostulations of the more merciful men, the unconscious form was torn from those who would have protected it, and thrown into the sea.
Then the rowers bent to the oars, and under their efforts the boat shot away, leaving Frank Laurier in the distance, a horrified spectator of one of the most dastardly deeds ever committed by fiends in the form of men.
Fate had indeed brought Jessie Lyndon and Frank Laurier together again under circumstances the most awful that could be imagined—both face to face with death, having scarcely one chance in a hundred of escape from their perilous strait.
As for Jessie, the only hope lay in Frank Laurier’s ability to reach and save her if she should rise to the surface again.