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"Now, bear a hand there, you, Jean!" I pulled open the gate of the

rail, and ran out the landing stage, on which the flat-bottoles as nearly as

possible when she cleared "Quick! Get in, both of you," I called I

was holding the inboard end of the plank under a wedged oar shaft,

thrust below the sill of the forward cabin door They scraht of the painter that I handed hi it over the rail

"Now, look out," I called, and dropped the landing stage to hted, rose high--and

held The next ht by the

collar as , and so I slid in,

soht the end of the painter from

John's hand and cast her free

The drift carried us off at once, and the next wave almost hid the

hull of the Belle Helène I knew at once ere powerless, and that

our one hope lay in drifting ashore There is no worse sea boat than a

low, flat ducking boat, decked though she be, and of good coa, for

she butts into and does not rise to a sea But now, I thankedonly was in our favor We rolled like a log, already half

full of water, but we floated, because in each end of our skiff was a

big e protest of