It must, indeed, have been a great prize in view that could
have caused such a daring feat. That was the thought of the old
Coast-guardsman, as he watched the lad (he was scarcely more than a
boy) as he took stroke after stroke for Calais. Now he rested on the
back of a treacherous porpoise that soon cast him away.
[Illustration]
"Will the steamboat lend him a helping hand, or rather rope?" muttered
the veteran salt, as he watched the seemingly fragile figure of the
swimmer. "Ah, by Neptune! well done! Strike me flat with a lubberly
marling-spike, but a kindly act indeed!"
The action that had extorted the admiration of the aged seaman was a
rope that had been thrown over the steamboat's bulwarks. The now weary
swimmer gratefully accepted the boon. It saved his life.
"Will you pay the difference, and come on board, young Sir?" asked the
Captain of the packet, facetiously.
"Were it not that I am very poor," gasped out the tired, and shivering
lad, "I should not have undertaken this gigantic but necessary task."
He held on bravely, and in good time the coast of France was sighted,
neared, and reached.
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