"That ain't crew enough for her," said the Captain. "Some of them have been washed overboard when she struck. There'll be more of the poor chaps overboard before long. Look at that sea once. It buried her whole hull."
"She won't stand many such seas," said the man who had been called John.
"What are you boys doing on the beach at this time in the morning?" asked Captain Raynor. "Did you row across the bay?"
Charley told how he and the other boys happened to be in the neighborhood of the wreck. The men listened with much interest, and Charley was beginning to wonder how they could be interested in anything but the fate of the unhappy men on board the wreck, when the Captain rose up, and said:
"Well, there ain't no use in waiting. The sea ain't going down, and we've got light enough. Now, men, if you're ready, get on your cork-jackets, and we'll launch the boat."
Every one of the boat's crew, including Charley, put on cork life-preservers, and then shoving the boat close to the surf, waited for the order to launch her. Charley had been told to pull the oar next to the stroke oar, and with one of the men was seated in the boat. The rest of the crew stood with both hands on her gunwale.
CAPSIZING OF THE LIFE-BOAT.
The Captain waited until he thought he saw a favorable chance. "Now—away with her!" he cried, and the men, rushing into the surf with the boat, leaped into her, and bent to their oars, while the Captain managed the long steering oar. For a few moments they fought manfully with the waves, and had nearly succeeded in getting through the breakers, when a tremendous sea whirled the boat around, rolled her over and over, and flung her violently on the beach. The men, who were, of course, thrown out of her, luckily managed to reach the shore unhurt, and Charley, to the great joy of his friends, was among them. The boat, however, was so seriously damaged that it was out of the question to think of trying to launch her a second time.
"You've had a narrow escape," said the Captain to Charley. "I didn't much think we'd get through the breakers, but we had to try it."