If there is anything calculated
to send a thrill of awe through a crowd, it is the cry of "Man
overboard!" And when one looked below, and saw above the drowning head
two white arms thrust from the sea, a horrible thing was brought home to
each of us. Besides, the scene before us on the deck was not reassuring.
There was trouble in getting the boat lowered. The first officer was
excited, the lascars were dazed, the stewards were hurried without being
confident; only Hungerford, Stone, and the gunner were collected. The
boat should have been launched in a minute, but still it hung between its
davits; its course downward was interrupted; something was wrong with the
ropes, "A false start, by---!" said the bookmaker, looking through his
eye-glass. Colonel Ryder's face was stern, Clovelly was pale and anxious,
as moment after moment went, and the boat was not yet free. Ages seemed
to pass before the boat was let down even with the bulwarks, and a crew
of ten, with Hungerford in command, were in it, ready to be lowered.
Whether the word was given to lower, or whether it was any one's fault,
may never perhaps be known; but, as the boat hung there, suddenly it shot
down at the stern, some one having let go the ropes at that end; and the
bow being still fast, it had fallen like a trap-door.
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