‘She’s gone a long way off,’ said Edgar. ‘You will stay with me, won’t you, dear?’
‘Yes. Stay till mamma comes back,’ said Eva. ‘Where’s daddy?’
‘Gone with mamma,’ said Edgar. ‘He said you must be a good girl.’
‘Always good girl with Eddy,’ she said, snuggling up against him.
This was more than Mrs. Jessop’s motherly heart could stand, and she beat a hasty retreat.
‘Me go too,’ said Eva; and Edgar let her patter after Mrs. Jessop.
‘Now,’ said Wal Jessop, ‘we may as well introduce ourselves. I’m Pilot Walter Jessop, and am as well known along this coast as a good many sailors.’
‘Edgar Foster is my name,’ said Edgar, who proceeded to relate how it came about he was on board the Distant Shore. He also told Wal Jessop about his school-days and life at home. Wal Jessop was a man who inspired confidence, and Edgar felt it would be good for him to make a friend of the man who had rescued him from a watery grave.
‘We had a splendid passage,’ said Edgar, ‘until we were somewhere off the coast of Tasmania, I believe. It was then the storm commenced to brew, and Captain Manton became anxious. We could not have had a better skipper, and no blame can be attached to him for the loss of the ship. It was a pure accident. The rudder chains snapped at a critical moment, and the ship was not under control. It was a terrible time, and I shall never forget it. Captain Manton asked me to do what I could to save his wife and child, as he had to try and look after the ship and those on board. The last I saw of him he was standing as cool and collected as though sailing calmly into port. What the agony of his mind must have been I fail to imagine. When the crash came I snatched Eva from Mrs. Manton’s arms, and directly afterwards I was hurled against the side of the vessel, and the support almost immediately gave way. I was pitched into the seething waves, with the child in my arms. For a moment I was stunned, but when the dazed feeling passed I caught hold of a floating spar, which I managed to grasp with one hand and to hold Eva with my other arm. The child was insensible from the shock, and luckily for us she did not know what happened.
‘After a few minutes I scrambled on the spar, which was tossed up and down by the waves in a fearful manner. I expected every moment would be my last, and that we should be dashed to pieces on the rocks. How we escaped is really marvellous, and God must have been very near us at that time. One huge wave lifted the spar on to the rocks, and as I felt it roll backwards I slipped off and clung to a jagged edge of rock. Another wave came rushing over us, and must have rolled me higher up the rocks, for I remember nothing more until I saw you bending over me. I can hardly realize I am saved, and can still hear the roar of the waves, and seem to feel the water dashing over me.’