The Boy With the U. S. Life-Savers Part 42

On through the storm the _Miami_ sped, her engine driving at its fullest speed despite the terrific strain put upon it when the vessel heaved her stern out of water and the screw raced madly with nothing to catch. On she sped, though her bow was pointed straight for the most treacherous shoals on the Atlantic coast, bars of avid quicksand, on which thousands of vessels had gone to swift and awful destruction. On toward the Diamond Shoals the cutter pierced her way, though the gray veil of driving spray hid everything a score of fathom before the vessel's bow.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A RESCUE ON THE DIAMOND SHOALS.

The Coast Guard Cutter in utmost peril, saving the lives of the crew of the wrecked steamer, _Union_.

Courtesy of Scientific American.]

"By the deep four!" called out the leadsman, as the water shallowed.

Eric felt an uncomfortable sensation at the pit of his stomach. Four fathoms! This was within a few feet of the bottom of the vessel. If she should strike!

But the first lieutenant, unperturbed, peered out into the grayness. The boy felt an overwhelming admiration of a man who could dare to take a s.h.i.+p over the worst piece of coast in all the broad Atlantic, in a driving hurricane, with never a landmark or a light to guide him, and hold his nerve cool and self-a.s.sured. The captain was on the bridge, but Eric noted that he never spoke to the first lieutenant. This, the boy thought, told even more the spirit of the Coast Guard. Each man had faith in the knowledge and skill of the other.

Into the very jaws of the breakers the little cutter sped, and, even while the boy was looking fearfully on every side of him to see the curling waves breaking on shoals not a hundred feet away, there appeared before them the wrecked and disabled steamer. Over the bars the vessel had pounded, her foretopmast had gone by the board, and she seemed in hopeless case.

So powerful was the gale that it had plucked the hapless steamer out of the jaws of the sucking sand, and flung her, like a plaything, into the breakers beyond. The _Miami_ slowed down, her first pause in that awful race, which was ending in the maze of the Diamond Shoals, with waves breaking on every side and a hurricane whistling overhead.

It seemed even the most reckless foolhardiness to go on a fathom further, but the first lieutenant seemed to know the bottom as though it were a peaceful lane in a New England countryside, and after the _Union_, the Coast Guard cutter crept warily. Even the boatswain muttered under his breath,

"We'll never get out o' this!"

But, foot by foot, almost, the boy thought, step by step, the _Miami_ overhauled the wrecked vessel.

Then from the long silence that had reigned on the bridge, suddenly issued a torrent of orders. The decks of the cutter seemed to bristle with men, as when Jason sowed the dragon's teeth. Eric, though quick and keen, had all he could do to fulfil the part of the work that was given him and set the crew at the lines of the breeches-buoy. Every man was on deck and every man was working with frantic haste.

In a fraction of time that seemed but a few seconds, a line was shot to the _Union_, made fast by her crew on board, the breeches-buoy was hauled out and the first of the men from the wreck was on the way to the _Miami_. All this had been done in the few minutes that pa.s.sed while the cutter held herself within fifteen fathom of the schooner. Then the _Miami_ dropped her anchor, to hold her place for the breeches-buoy.

Amid the scream of the gale in the rigging, and the pounding of the breakers on the shoals, the men worked like fiends. Never did ropes slip more quickly through their hands, never did sailors work more feverishly. But, in spite of this wild and furious striving, it was evident that the _Miami_ dare not hold her place. The _Union_ evidently had lost one of her anchors, and the other was not holding in the sand.

Every few seconds she dragged, and, in order to prevent the breeches-buoy tackle from being suddenly broken, the _Miami_ had to pay out cable to keep in bearing. Each fathom of chain slipped brought her that much nearer to the shoal.

There were thirty men in the _Union's_ crew and every man had been brought aboard but the captain, when the Coast Guard cutter reached the edge of the shoal. One minute more would mean success.

At that instant, a savage gust came hurtling in from sea, as though the hurricane was bound to claim at least one victim. The captain of the steamer had just thrust one leg through the breeches-buoy and the _Miami's_ men, with a cheer, had started to haul him inboard, when that gust struck the wrecked vessel. It keeled her over, snapping the line of the breeches-buoy like a whip, and the captain of the steamer was jerked out into the sea.

Absolutely without thinking of what he did, reverting for the instant back to the old volunteer life-saving work, when every man went on his own initiative, Eric tore off coat, trousers, and shoes, s.n.a.t.c.hed a life-belt, and plunged into the boiling breakers.

At the same second, before even his plunge was noted, the _Miami_ slipped her cable entirely, leaving chain and anchor as booty to the Diamond Shoals and clawed away from the sandbar, not more than twenty feet from her bow.

Eric, keyed to a wild and excited perception, saw the captain of the steamer in the water, a few feet away, and swam to him. He found him conscious but unable to swim, the jerk from the breeches-buoy having twisted a sinew in his thigh.

It was a half a mile to land, and the breakers rose all round them. With a blind intuition the boy struck out for sh.o.r.e. He knew it was no use trying to reach the s.h.i.+p. How long he struggled he scarcely knew, but the _Union's_ captain, though in pain and crippled, was able to use his arms in swimming and, for a few minutes, from time to time, relieved the boy.

It seemed that hours pa.s.sed. The chill of failure began to creep into Eric's spirits. No longer he swam with energy, but with desperation. The hand of the steamer's captain on his shoulder grew heavier and heavier.

Spots danced before his eyes.

Suddenly his comrade spoke.

"A little further, lad," he said, "a little further. They've seen us!"

And, like a great white angel on the water, the power surf-boat of the Cape Hatteras Coast Guard station came flying through the surf upon them. The two branches of the Coast Guard had combined to s.n.a.t.c.h from the graveyard of the deep its full-expected prey.

THE END

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U. S. Service Series

Ill.u.s.trations from Photographs taken for U. S. Government. Large 12mo.

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THE BOY WITH THE U. S. SURVEY

THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FORESTERS

THE BOY WITH THE U. S. CENSUS

THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FISHERIES

THE BOY WITH THE U. S. INDIANS

THE BOY WITH THE U. S. EXPLORERS

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