The second wire sagged but held. A whole section of the boom swayed, the side nearest the cutter slipping under the water, while the other side reared five or six feet in the air, narrowly missing the bows of the whaler in its descent.
For quite twenty yards the steamboat was forced astern by the rebound of the hawser; then, just as she was forging ahead once more, Osborne ordered the engines to be stopped. Very docilely the boat ran alongside the insurmountable barrier.
"All aboard here—all hands!" ordered Osborne, addressing the survivors of the cutter and the whaler.
The bow gun of the steamboat was spitting venomously at parties of Turks who had now appeared upon the top of the cliffs. Distinctly silhouetted against the glow of the search-lights they made an excellent target, while the boats, lying close alongside the steeply rising ground, were practically invisible, save for the flashes of the steamboat's gun.
Assisted by their slightly wounded comrades, the disabled seamen were helped along the swaying timber and received on board the steam cutter. Webb and Haynes were the last to leave. The latter had come off lightly, having sustained nothing more than a graze across the forehead.
"Bear a hand, old man!" exclaimed Webb, after a vain attempt to scramble upon the boat's side.
"Hit?" enquired Haynes laconically.
"Don't know. Fancy I must be," replied the Sub dully.
Had not Haynes grasped his comrade by the shoulders Webb would have dropped inertly from the balk of timber into the sea. Everything was turning a dazzling white before his eyes. His nerveless hands were holding on to the top-strake of the cutter, yet he was unconscious of the fact.
"Buck up!" exclaimed Haynes encouragingly. "Now, up she comes!"