“As to that, it is not worth thinking about,” answered Roger; “but we will see what they propose.”
In the meantime we endeavoured to ascertain what the people on board the brig were going to do. The darkness, however, was so great, that we could not distinguish anything going forward among them. There the brig lay, however, hard and fast; the seas breaking now over one end, now over the other, but not with such violence as we dreaded.
Chapter Twenty Two.
Wreck of the Dugong.
The arrival of my uncle with his man, carrying a quantity of the light ratan rope, gave us some hopes of being able to rescue our friends on board the brig.
“To be sure, this will float as easily as a cork,” exclaimed Roger; “and I see no reason why I should not tow the end off aboard the brig. You, Tanda, pay it out as you see I want it.”
Again my uncle warned him of the danger.
“Very true, sir,” he answered, fastening the end round his waist; “but, you see, if we seamen had to stop every time we saw danger, we should very soon have to go ashore and take to nursing babies. No, sir; my notion is that the thing is to be done. It may fail; but if it succeeds, why, we may manage to get most of those poor fellows safe on shore.”