Part 80 (1/2)

For more than ten minutes they swam steadily onward without saying a word, but still the sailing-boat was a long way from them, and Charlie vowed to himself that never again would he attempt to judge distances at sea.

A few minutes later Ping w.a.n.g again turned on to his back. He did not utter a word, but Charlie knew by his heavy breathing that he was nearly exhausted. When he had lain there for some minutes he said, with a gasp, 'I will have one more try,' and started off again. But when he had swum a few yards he said, feebly, 'I can't reach her. Don't you bother about me. Look after yourself.'

'I won't go aboard her without you,' Charlie declared, and kept a closer watch on his companion. Soon he saw that Ping w.a.n.g, if left to himself, would be drowned.

'Turn on your back and lie still,' he said, 'and I'll tow you.'

Very fortunately Charlie had often practised the art of saving life from drowning, and therefore had no difficulty in supporting Ping w.a.n.g, who had the presence of mind to lie still. In a few minutes the Chinaman recovered somewhat, and Charlie, seeing the improvement, said, 'If you can support yourself for a few moments I'll hail the s.h.i.+p.'

'All right,' Ping w.a.n.g replied, and Charlie, letting him go, turned over and shouted towards the sailing s.h.i.+p, 'What ho, there!'

For two or three minutes he waited for an answering shout, but none came.

'What ho! what ho!' he sang out, and almost immediately he saw some lights moving about on the deck of the s.h.i.+p.

'Help, help!' he shouted with all his strength.

'Coming,' was the faint reply that reached him, and almost at the same moment he noticed that a boat was being lowered.

'We shall be picked up in a few minutes,' he said to Ping w.a.n.g, and the good news had such a reviving effect upon the Chinaman that he turned over and began to swim again.

'Lie still,' Charlie shouted, knowing that his companion's strength would otherwise soon expire.

Ping w.a.n.g obeyed instantly.

'Where are you?' the men in the boat called out.

'Here,' Charlie answered, and so that the boat might not have much difficulty in finding them, he hailed her every few moments.

Sometimes he caught sight of her on the top of a wave, and then he would see nothing more of her for quite a minute. But at last she reached them.

'Take my friend first,' Charlie sang out to the man who was holding aloft a big lantern to get a look at them.

In a moment the boat was brought alongside Ping w.a.n.g, who was fished out in a state of collapse. Charlie, almost unaided, scrambled in, and at once busied himself in striving to revive his companion. Fortunately he was successful, and by the time the boat reached the s.h.i.+p, Ping w.a.n.g was not much the worse for his long and unpleasant swim.

(_Continued on page 242._)

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Ping w.a.n.g was fished out in a state of collapse.”]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Charlie sprang upwards, and climbed aboard.”]

AFLOAT ON THE DOGGER BANK.

A Story of Adventure on the North Sea and in China.

(_Continued from page 239._)

CHAPTER VI.