Without further delay Hokosuka departed on his perilous errand. In five minutes the first sack was hauled up. Another eight minutes passed before the second consignment arrived; then there was an ominous delay.
"The man is frozen to death," exclaimed Fielding. "Haul away as fast as you can."
The sub., Cardyke, Rutter, and four or five more tugged at the rope—it broke.
Thrusting his head out of the port Fielding tried to peer through the darkness. No call for aid came from the surface of the night-enshrouded sea. He placed his hand upon the rope holding the third. It was heavy—far too heavy for a bag filled with ice only.
"He's hanging on to this rope," announced the sub. in a low tone. "It's not stout enough to haul him up."
A hand touched his shoulder. He withdrew from the port-hole, and, turning, saw Cardyke, clad in a pilot-coat and with a rope made fast round his waist.
"I'll see what I can do," said the mid., quietly. "I'll take another length of rope with me. There's no time to waste."
The next instant he had vanished. Scraping down the rusty-streaked grey side of the ship, guiding his descent by means of the rope attached to the weighted sack, Cardyke proceeded on his errand of rescue. For full thirty feet he was lowered before he touched the mouth of the ice-filled bag. By giving two tugs upon the supplementary line the mid. signalled to his friends to stop lowering, and, fumbling with his hands, he strove to find the hapless Jap. But still success did not reward his efforts. He realised that the piercing cold was beginning to make itself known in a most unpleasant fashion. His hands were already numbed, the keenness of the air stung his face like repeated blows of a whip.
Three tugs—lower still. The mid.'s feet were in the water. Again he groped. His fingers touched Hokosuka's grease-covered face. The man gave no sign of life. Perhaps he was already dead with exposure. Labouringly Cardyke passed the end of the second rope under the Jap's shoulders, and with a painful effort succeeded in tying a running knot. This done he tugged frantically at the rope. It was a last effort—the cold had completely paralysed his muscles.
Limply Cardyke was hauled up, and as willing hands assisted him through the port, he had barely strength to utter "Haul away on the other line" ere he fainted.