"Pull yourself together, I tell you!" roared McGlory. "Now's the time to show yourself a man!"
"Yell to them to stand ready to throw a rope," said Matt, between his teeth. "We can't get alongside of them before they hit the rocks, but we can come near enough so we can catch a rope if there's a strong enough arm to pass it."
Lorry cast aside his overpowering doubts and fears and flung himself into the fight with demoniacal energy.
"Stand ready with a rope!" he yelled, trumpeting through his hands and doing his best to make his voice heard above the roar and crash of the waves.
Again and again he repeated it, and McGlory joined in, timing his voice with his cousin's.
One of the men who had been working at the engine suddenly left his thankless labor and placed himself well forward on the Stella at the point nearest to the approaching Sprite.
"Make ready to grab the rope, both of you!" shouted Matt. "If you're lucky enough to grab it, take a half-hitch around the stern stanchion, and lay back on the end of the rope with every ounce of power in your bodies! There, stand by! They're going to throw!"
Matt shifted the wheel and, for a minute, placed the Sprite broadside on to wind and waves. This gave the man with the rope a better mark.
Out shot the coil of hemp, but the resistance of the wind caused it to fall pitifully short.
A cry of despair went up from Lorry.