“Look out!” cried Luke, with arms extended and ten fingers in a claw-like position.
“Now then,” growled Gunter.
But the treacherous wave fell short, and David Bright was on the point of being dropt into the sea when his friends’ fingers clawed him back to safety.
“Better make fast a rope to him,” suggested Billy, in breathless anxiety.
The skipper of the Coper acted on the advice at once, and made the end of a rope fast round Bright’s waist.
Again the boat rose, surged seaward, then swooped towards the Coper, against which it would have been dashed but for the strong arms of Luke. It rose so high that the drunk man was for a moment on a level with the gunwale. It was too good a chance to be missed.
“Shove!” roared Gunter.
Over went the skipper into the arms of Luke, who lost his balance, and both rolled into the bottom of the boat as it sank into the succeeding hollow.
The danger being past, poor Billy signalised the event, and at the same time relieved his feelings, with a lusty cheer.
In a very short time Joe Davidson steered the Evening Star close to their tossing boat. Billy stood ready with the painter, and the instant the sides touched, he was over the rail like a monkey and made fast.